Four Swords: Divide and Conquer
by Scop
Summary: An original Zelda: Four Sword story. The monsters’ trail has led the split hero through the Faron Woods, into the Gerudo Desert, then north to the vicinity of the Snowpeak. There, they sight fresh troops of Ganon’s making towards Hyrule. Now they act…
1. Kill the hero! Catch the prisoner!

"This is _magnificent_--and it is _true_! It never _happened_; yet it is _still_ true. What magic art is this?"  
--Puck, in _Sandman: A Midsummer Night's Dream_, by Neil Gaiman

A nice line to remember for fanfiction, in my opinion.

I do not own _The Legend of Zelda_ series or its characters or concepts. These actual words are mine (except for the attributed quote above), but my purpose with them is to entertain, possibly parody, and let off my own creative steam. I hope you enjoy.

One more good line to open things:

_"This is but one of the legends of which the people speak..."_

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_Ganon's spirit has re-manifested itself in the Dark World. At the moment he has no body and his powers are limited, but he can project his voice to anywhere in his corrupted Sacred Land, and even into Hyrule. He has drawn monsters together in the Dark World, then spoken to people in Hyrule and the surrounding kingdoms, manipulating some without their knowledge and overtly recruiting others to his service. Through them, he's found the key to a lucrative piece of his plan. The blood of a hero, sprinkled over his ashes, will revive his body. Such a person has been found outside Hyrule, and Ganon wants him._

_He's hidden his movements carefully, waiting for the return of his body and powers and an ideal placement of his pawns, but he wasn't quite careful enough. Princess Zelda has caught wind of his machinations, and Link has gone to work. With the Hylian Knights he's raided two of Ganon's budding strongholds in Hyrule, capturing or slaying his supporters._

_In response, the King of Evil is now trying to fast-track his plans and completely hide his further movements. He sent for his sacrifice to be captured immediately and brought to him, knowing that this step could not be done quietly if it was to be done quickly. Luck is still against him, however, because one of his minions Link captured personally has done a deal. In exchange for the promise of a lessened punishment, he has given information on the kidnapping._

_Zelda's divinations then revealed the capture party returning with the unlucky foreign hero already in chains. Link isn't about to let an innocent and a potential compatriot lose his life to the King of Evil's plot. He is loaded for bear—laden with a choice complement of weapons and items—and heading to intercept the caravan._

The night had chilled the iron bars of the cage and the manacles that they'd clapped on him. It felt good to lean his bruises against them and let the cold relieve the pain, except when the cart the cage sat in bounced over a bump in the road and jarred the hard steel against the sensitive injuries. He was dejected, bare-chested and bare-footed, cold and hungry, his swords seemed to have been left at the spot where they'd caught him, his rage long since spent.

His captors trailed ahead of and behind his cage-wagon, a troop of lizalfos and four moblins. Two of the moblins gripped the tongue and dragged it along this road through the woods. The leader lizalfos, who had disarmed him and knocked him unconscious after he'd been weakened fighting the rest of the troop, was up at the head of the column in that bronze-leafed breastplate. Most of these monsters bore cuts he'd given them in the fight before trading out for unwounded members of the band. He'd fought well and desperately, but they were patient, and infuriating in the way they'd circled up around him as if it were a tavern brawl and taken him on two at a time with those forming the ring occasionally slapping him with their tails. He'd seriously wounded only three of them. He hadn't seen those three when he woke up, stripped and chained as he was, in the cage.

What they wanted with him, they hadn't said. Where they were taking him, they hadn't said. Scathing insults and challenges had provoked them to jab him with spear butts, but not to let anything slip. Their pace was rough by human standards, especially in this wagon with poor springs, and their idea of rest was slowing to a standard march instead of stopping. He hadn't been able to sleep with the way his cage was bouncing. Wherever they were going, it was far from his home, and they were in quite a hurry. He'd been silent for the last eight of the thirty-six hours they'd been moving, and feeling particularly sullen at this rotten turn of his luck.

His wiry form was bent as he sat with his knees crooked and his arms folded on top of them. His shoulder-length black hair veiled his face and enhanced his look of misery. He faced the door of the cage, on the cart's right side as it was pulled up the road. Torches burned in iron holders at each upper corner of his cage, and a few of his captors carried them as well. They'd lit them early. The night looked like it would be clear, letting the just-waning moon pour down brightly. This would have been a good night to look at the stars before going to sleep, but instead his eyes were turned down. He smelled the smoke from the torches, heard the tread of the monsters, the rustle and creak of their leather armor, the creak of the cart…

Then he heard a soft sort of _snap_, which immediately put him in mind of an arrow being loosed from a bow, in particular those times when _he_ was the one being shot at. This association was reinforced when he looked up to see an arrow jutting from the neck of one of the moblins dragging his cart. It let go to grasp the shaft, then dropped to its knees. Its partner's head snapped to the side as it saw it fall, and its jaw started to open and shout the alarm. There was another snap of bowstring, and now that the prisoner was paying attention, he caught the buzz of fletchings in the wind just before the second arrow hit the moblin in the chest. The impact made it stumble back against the head of the cart, then pitch forward.

The prisoner tried to follow where the arrow had come from, to see the archer. He turned his head to look over his shoulder, to the left of the road. He wasn't disappointed, as the shooter was now charging the cage with a sword in hand. But the prisoner wasn't the only one alerted now, with the moblins' bodies vanishing with small explosions of light, sound, and smoke. A harsh shout came up from a reptilian throat. A lizalfos had turned to the attacking human with a blade drawn, and cut at his near shoulder. The parry that stopped it was unexpectedly forceful, knocking the monster's curved sword back, and followed with a passing slice across its upper leg. The human barely slowed his run for this parry and riposte, and left the wounded lizalfos behind to continue his beeline for the cage. He was heading for the side with the door.

The lizalfos who'd been following right behind the cart saw this, too, and was quick-thinking enough to dash forward to intercept the would-be rescuer at the corner. It raised its axe to bring it down into the attacking human's head with both hands just as he started to come into reach. The rescuer lunged and thrust his sword into the monster's heart.

As he recovered from his lunge and pulled the sword free, the prisoner got his first chance to see him in the torchlight. The first impression he received was the green of his clothing, a tunic and a hat with a long tail that fell back from his head like a hood. He could see a shield across his back, and note the large personal arsenal he was carrying. His height was average, his build strong but not bulky enough to impede agility.

His rescuer was moving again as the lizalfos fell to one side and expired with another flash and fume, now at the door. He jabbed his blade into the ground and pulled a warhammer from his belt. "Stand back!" he shouted to the prisoner as he raised it over his head and took aim at the latch and lock. The prisoner covered his eyes with his forearms, and the cart rocked with the force of the blow. A couple pieces of shrapnel hit his legs, and the cage rang and vibrated. He lowered his arms to look, and the door was hanging open, knocked inward by the hammer. The human was tucking the hammer back into his belt with one hand while the other reached in, towards the prisoner. "Come on!"

He grabbed the hand with his own manacled one, now noticing the leather bracer on this wrist. He was helped step out to freedom, where the prisoner noticed his body's stiffness and fatigue from being stuck in the cage for at least day-and-a-half with no sleep.

"Can you fight?" the man in green asked as he reached down and pulled his sword free from the ground.

"I'm shackled," he answered, neglecting to mention his stiffness, which he expected would loosen up quickly as he warmed to the fight. "Can you smash my chains?"

"No time." There was a _clunk_, and the prisoner looked up over his shoulder to see a lizalfos perched on the cage, glaring and drooling at them. The handful of seconds they'd had unmolested, while the ambushed monsters tried to figure out what was going on, how many had attacked them, and which direction they were coming from, were gone. The rest of the band was converging fast on them.

"Kill the hero!" shouted one lizalfos, whose voice the black-haired man recognized as their leader's. "Catch the prisoner!" The prisoner himself spared an instant's thought to the fact that _he_ deserved to be called hero, too, as the man in green looked tensely around at them. His free hand was digging quickly in a pouch at his waist.

"Cover your eyes!" he told him as he raised something from the pouch in his hand, in a manner that indicated he was about to hurl it to the ground. The liberated one did as he was advised, and there was a shiver of sound and what must have been a blinding flash that he could perceive even through his tightly-closed eyelids and crossed forearms. There were screams from the monsters, and as the red and yellow afterimage settled in his vision he raised his head to look again. They were clawing and rubbing at their eyes, recoiling. The man in green had turned away from them and placed his hand on the prisoner's shoulder, pushing him back down the road the way they'd come. "Let's go!"

They ran for it, not giving the monsters that outnumbered them the chance to recover. The rescuer pushed his charge into the lead, who felt his muscles limbering satisfactorily with the rigorous movement and the breath of free air. Moonlight shone down and cast dappled leaf shadows on the road before they veered off it, into the woods. The wind of their flight filled his ears, but not so much he couldn't pick up the exhortation from his companion.

"Come on, come on! Gotta go faster!" He was looking over his shoulder, back towards the capture party. Their shouts and curses could distantly be heard.

"I'm going as fast as I can in these shackles!" The liberated hero felt he was doing very well considering his circumstances, but was able to admit that speed was of the essence. He'd seen how fleet of foot these lizalfos could be.

"Blast." He was looking forward again, sheathing his blade as they ran and wearing an expression of frustration and worry. Then he pointed while one hand went to his belt for the maul again. "There!" The escapee looked, and saw the large rock he was indicating near the foot of a tree. They diverted for it. "Stretch the chain out across the rock."

"Right," he said, throwing himself into a seat behind their improvised anvil and stretching the chain between his ankles across it. "I guess you'd crush my foot if you used that thing on the manacle itself."

"Yeah, sorry," the man in green replied as he raised the hammer above his head again. "First chance we get, they come off." He brought it down, snapping through the chain and pulverizing the rock, too. The _thump_ could be felt clearly through the ground, and the black-haired man guessed that the hammer must be enchanted, as it seemed to strike with more force than seemed possible for its size (it wasn't small, either). But however it worked, it did the job, for his ankles were free and it felt great to move them further apart than he'd been allowed. "Yes!" He was about to offer the chain between his wrists when he spotted monsters approaching. "Behind you, coming up fast!"

His new companion turned, switching the hammer to his off-hand while his other went to his belt once more. He pulled an object from a holster on it (a boomerang), drew it back over his shoulder, sized them up, and hurled it forcefully with a step forward. There were three of them, and the boomerang followed a tight arc and struck them across the faces in succession. They were checked in their tracks, and the weapon finished its return path to its thrower's hand. The black-haired man got to his feet, appreciative of the skill such a throw needed.

"Keep running, I'll catch up with you after I've thinned them out."  
"All right, but leave some for me. I owe them." With that, he continued in the direction they'd been taking, deeper into the benighted forest and away from his captors.

Link faced his opponents. He holstered the boomerang, then unslung his shield from his shoulder and drew his sword with a ringing of fine steel. Another lizalfos had caught up, and dodged around its dizzied fellows with teeth bared and blade in hand. Link came en guarde as the monster hitched up its sword arm and made a running attack at his head. The hero took a step to the rear as he raised his shield to protect his skull from the cut, and another step as the reptile kept coming. It cut at him again, this time at his left leg, and Link took the attack with the strong of his blade. Then he gave no more ground, instead stepping into his enemy with the edge of his shield leading. He gave it a forehand strike in the jaw. Its head whipped to the side with the force of the hit. With their blades still held out of the way, he gave it a backhand blow with the shield's face. He was now almost body-to-body with the lizalfos, and dazed by the attacks and desperate to re-set the distance of the fight, it tried to leap back. Link was ready for this, however, already lunging before the foe could get out of reach. His thrust penetrated its chest, and it toppled backward into the dirt and left this world with a one-note fanfare of light, smoke, and noise.

The other three were ready to attack now, one in the lead. Link gave it a light, fast cut across the upper arm before it could slash at him. It stopped the attack as intended, but the other two cut at each of his legs almost simultaneously. He parried one with his shield and the other with his sword. He looked the lizalfos he'd counterattacked in the teeth as it snarled at him, and found it not much troubled by the minor cut. With all three about to attack him at once, Link leapt back in a fleche that put distance between him and the angry, scaly monsters. They passed forward to press their attacks. He suddenly leapt up and forward, getting elevation and momentum to meet them with a heavy jump attack and cry of "_Hyaaaah!_"

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The escapee was still running, breathing steadily and willing his calf not to cramp any worse than it already was. He'd gathered his chain between his hands to keep it out of the way and prevent it snagging on brush. This was a great turn of luck, he realized, as he had no one to expect a rescue from, and yet the man in green had come, armed to the teeth. Perhaps he was another good samaritan and warrior who'd happened to see him the prisoner of the monsters; if their positions were reversed, he'd have done the same thing. He'd have to ask him when he caught up. But first he'd have him get rid of this last chain, and then see if he had a blade to loan.

As he started up a wooded slope, he began to imagine himself fighting these lizalfos and giving them a little much-deserved payback. Maybe he could use that hammer and make things quick, the better to get to all of them that the man in green left for him. He hoped he got a chance at the leader in the distinctive armor. He _really_ owed _him_, for him he wanted a sword and a one-on-one fight, to take his time…

Scaly feet were pursuing him as quietly as possible and making up ground, especially when he slowed climbing the hill. Escapee and pursuers crested the hill at about the same time. They put on more speed to get ahead and cut him off, but didn't count on their target's impressive reflexes.

His ears caught a rustle in the brush ahead of him some ten steps. His brow furrowed. He dropped the bundled chain and let it play out between his hands, thinking he should've known it had been too easy. A lizalfos burst from the bushes to his right with a hiss, trying to take him in the side and knock him over. He was ready, and pivoted, whipping it across the face with the chain. The angry escapee twirled it over his head and hit it again, then grabbed the clawed hand it held its short, curved sword in. He gripped near the thumb and twisted with his whole body, hoping that it _did_ try to resist and get its wrist broken. But it turned with the wrench and ended up supine on the ground, with its weapon in the human's hands. The monster was given no time to rise, as the hero planted the blade in its chest and came back up, looking for the others he was sure were coming.

Two more reptiles came at him out of the dark and foliage as their slain fellow went to smoke. He swung the chain in wide arcs to keep them at a distance, then danced forward and laid a whack on one's crown, another squarely on the other's elbow. He could probably take these two, even weak and bound as he was, but in the corner of his eye he saw another one coming. This was ridiculous; the man in green was supposed to be holding them back! He tried to lunge at one only to have it parry and swing its tail at him. He ducked the attack and fell back. Maybe three he could manage, but getting recaptured seemed a great risk. On the other hand, they'd caught up with him already, so perhaps there was little point in running.

With that in mind, he elected to keep on fighting with the desperate burst of energy he felt. He pressed an attack on the lizalfos, then feinted. The monster attempted the block he wanted and he thrust the sword home this time. Another was upon him immediately, and he left the sword in the dying reptile to turn and lash with the chain again. The human twirled his improvised weapon over his head and swung once more, wrapping the length of it around this foe's lower leg, and pulled hard. It tripped as he hoped, but before he could take advantage of its position the third one wrapped its arm around his neck in an attempt to subdue him with a choke hold.

The jaw has some of the strongest muscles of the human body. Though the teeth aren't sharp and pointed like those of a lizalfos or other predator, nevertheless they focus all the compression of the jaw into a small area and are not to be discounted. Furthermore the swordsman was in a mood to fight dirty. Therefore he picked the thinner scales and softer flesh of the crook of the monster's elbow, tucked his chin, and _bit_.

His assailant shrieked in pain and surprise and released its hold, but found that the human did not let go as it had expected. Instead he bore down harder though it made his temples hurt, and just as the lizalfos raised a claw to tear him off, he loosed the grip. It had let go of its sword, which the hero now had, and stabbed it deep under the ribs.

The last foe, the one he'd tripped, was most of the way up. With a step forward he kicked up in its chin with all force. It twisted in mid-fall to catch itself with its claws, face-down, the better to get back up and retaliate against the human. But it exposed the back of its head and shoulders to him, which were beaten upon with the chain.

He'd managed some payback after all. The black-haired hero twirled his bond over his head, aiming to give it one more for good measure and ensure it puffed out. But before he could bring it down again the chain caught on something behind him, and he felt it yanked. He regained his balance and turned to see his chain in the claws of the leader.

He thrashed and tried to pull free, but it stepped into him and struck him across the head with the pommel of its sword, as hard as it had hit him when he'd been captured. His world jolted crazily and what remained of his strength failed him. The black-haired man's knees buckled and he dropped, held half-suspended by the chain attached to his wrists. His vision swam and his ears rang deafeningly, but he remained barely conscious. The leader made off with him, following directions from a quiet voice that seemed to come from thin air.

Back down the hill, at the edge of the road, a monster was vanishing into smoke and a human was moving quickly into the woods.


	2. So what'll it be, hero?

_Ganon, without a body and with his powers limited, has ordered the capture of a hero outside Hyrule. His blood will revive the King of Evil, and he was successfully _subdued_ by a force of lizalfos and abducted from his homeland. Link has ambushed the party upon their return to Hyrule and was able to spring the hero from his cage, then flee with him. The two seperated with the foreigner continuing to run while Link fought off monsters to buy them some time, but lizalfos got around him, and the prisoner's been caught again..._

The lizalfos had landed a couple of cuts on Link as he brought them down, but they were finished now and he was trying to catch up with the black-haired hero. Most of the small band had to be slain by now. More had joined his little skirmish and caused his delay. A few may have bypassed him, and he worried for his charge.

He took a torch a monster had dropped and ran in the direction the prisoner had headed off. It was very difficult to track at the speed he was moving, even with the clear trail, and he was forced to pause a couple of times to peer with his meager light. It got easier, however, and he cursed his slowness, when he came across the clawed prints overlapping and paralleling the prisoner's barefoot tracks starting up the hill. Some _had_ bypassed him. A bit further on he found lizalfos swords on the ground, plenty sign of struggle, and thought he could still detect the acrid reek left by a perishing monster's smoke. Here the prisoner's prints ended, replaced with deeper, clawed prints moving at a walk. The hero pursued them.

Link hadn't expected the trail to lead where it did, though he knew they were in the vicinity. He extinguished and cast away the torch as he got closer, the better to stay hidden. The structure was tall, but ugly in its decay. Many parts of its exterior walls were fallen in and it had a quality like a deformed, deflating sand castle. It looked like it was being held upright and together only by magic, which as far as he knew it _was_.

It was the Four Sword Sanctuary. Maybe it had simply been handy (obscure as it was, it was the only structure nearby), but it gave Link a bad feeling that the monster had taken refuge in the crumbling heap. He'd always avoided it. The legend about the hero who'd come here before, been split into four duplicates of himself, and loosed a deadly demon in the process was nearly lost, but not to Hyrule Castle's extensive trove of lore. The Princess had told it to him once, and out of wariness he never visited it.

Now here he was, standing before the shrine that hadn't been disturbed for nearly an age. Enchantments and minor guardian spirits warded off casual intruders, and even those that didn't keep out couldn't draw the sword that held that powerful and malicious wind mage, Vaati, captive. The seal had held firmly on him ever since it was reinforced by the Princess's great-great-grandfather, who had been a fine wizard, avid historian, and beloved king.

He told himself there was probably nothing to worry about as he looked up at the ugly building. Besides, he'd come here for the foreign hero, not the sword. He would kick lizalfos tail and get out probably without even _seeing_ the sword. That was for the best, anyway.

Crashing in through the front door wasn't a good idea. Trying to sneak in through a hole in the wall was better. But best of all would be an approach they hadn't thought of. Link took a deep breath and cleared his mind of everything except this moment in time, this place, and what he felt here. When properly grounded, he invoked the power of magic with an effort of will, focused with a ritual obeisance and syllables of the Old Hylian language. The spell moved through him and enveloped him from the inside with a glare of light. It compressed and transformed him, and when the magic was done with him he floated above the ground, four inches tall from head to toe, held aloft by transparent insect-like wings and magic. A corona of white light surrounded his new, tiny, humanoid form and obscured it. He had taken the shape of a fairy.

He flitted into the air and bypassed the ground-level entrances with their likely ambushes. He shed occasional glowing motes as he flew that faded in moments. Fairy Link slipped in through a high, broken window. As he entered he felt an unpleasant tingle of magic, which he thought was to be expected with the wards on the structure. He passed inside and took stock of the shrine from a bird's-eye view, staying up at the ceiling and hoping his light wouldn't give him away.

The shrine's interior was holding up against time with much greater success than its outside. It still had beauty. Thick lichen and moss filled mortar joints and cracks and covered many surfaces completely. Tall, smooth columns held up the roof, only two of which were fallen. Its far wall still bore a complicated relief that prominently incorporated chains and an eye—not the Sheikah eye, Link could tell when he looked closer, as it lacked the tear and eyelashes. Before this relief stood the pedestal and altar that held the shrine's featured treasure and seal, and before that there were none of the tall columns. Instead were four short, broad pillars that did not reach the ceiling but displayed at their tops symbols carved from stone of the four elements. Torches and braziers left long ago seemed to have been lit by the lizalfos and were burning, and moonlight poured in through the gaps in the roof, illuminating the interior.

No monsters lurked below him, waiting to pounce as he came through the vestibule, or near the fallen-in sections of the walls. But up at the head of the building, in the middle of the square formed by the four element pillars, he could make out the lizalfos leader and the prisoner. The reptile held its blade in one hand and the foreign warrior in the other, its long, muscled arm gripping him across the chest and shoulder. He looked delirious.

Link skimmed the ceiling, then descended along one of the columns, keeping it between himself and the lizalfos. When he reached the ground he countered the spell and reverted to his human form. He stepped around the column and walked calmly up the aisle towards the monster and his charge.

It didn't look surprised to see him, which was disconcerting. It had hitched up the prisoner to use him as a human shield, and backed up towards the Four Sword in its stone, keeping a cautious distance when the hero approached. Link stopped between the first two pillars.

"I've come for him," he declared to the leader.

"He's King Ganon's," it hissed in response. "You won't stop me giving him to him, meddler." It made a cougar-like bark. Link's ear caught a creak of leather, something moving around one of the pillars he was between. Then a moblin came around each one, leading with twelve-foot pikes, and he jumped back hard to avoid the spears. Their hiding had been superb. Part of him had wondered where these two had gotten to after he'd shot their partners back at the wagon. At least they weren't smart enough to pin him up against a pillar, or they may have gotten him.

The hero reached behind his head for a hilt, surprising the monsters when he drew a large two-handed sword instead of the smaller one he'd been wielding before. The moblins jabbed at him again and he parried with a heavy sweep. He tried to close distance with their weapons held out of the way, but they were alert and backed off, opening considerably. Link had no time to dance with them, and charged forward. They offered their spears for him to impale himself upon, and he chopped with the greatsword, breaking one and then the other. He dropped the point of the sword over his left shoulder and brought it around and up in a little windmill-like motion. He was in reach, and cut vertically at a moblin.

It tried to parry with what remained of its spear, holding it over its head, but he cleaved through the wood. It was impossible to say if the blow that passed through the defense and landed on its head was more crushing or chopping, but down it went, vanishing almost instantly. The remaining moblin took a step back in surprise, then came at him with its own spear shaft, smashing him in the side forcefully. He twisted with the blow, grunting in pain, and riposted, cutting its leg out from under it.

The moblin fell onto its back. Link changed his grip on the weapon, setting his right hand below the guard on the unsharpened ricasso. With this greater control over the sword, he pounced on the downed moblin, planting the blade in its chest before it could think of rising.

He rose as it vanished and sheathed the weapon once more, languidly, looking at the remaining monster and trying not to wince as he inhaled and moved ribs hurt by the blow. "Now, we were talking about handing him over." The lizalfos raised its blade to the prisoner's neck. Link's bow was in his hands instantly, an arrow nocked and drawn. The lizalfos shifted its head to offer as little target for Link as possible.

"No closer, human, or I slit his throat."

"You wouldn't," Link replied, sighting along the shaft, holding steady on the bowstring. "You need him alive. Your boss needs him."

"Are you going to take that chance?" the monster asked with a toothsome sneer. Link merely glared. "Didn't think so, _hero_. You're too noble. Besides, maybe I'll just bring him you instead. You're a big pain in his neck. And one hero's as good as another, eh?"

"Only if you think you can take me, much less take me alive." Several seconds of an impasse followed as neither moved, and the prisoner remained bleary and passive in his captor's grip. Link's arm was getting tired holding the bow drawn, but he couldn't risk the shot or reduce the draw. He made another suggestion, one that he was reluctant to offer, but it was all he had. "You could let him go."

"What?" the reptile asked, narrowing its eyes at him.

"You could let him go. You could give him to me, and leave. Listen, I'll let you leave Hyrule and never come back. I don't have to kill you, and you don't have to serve Ganon. Please, I will personally escort you out of the kingdom and make sure no harm comes to you, if you just put him down and sheathe your blade."

The lizalfos was still watching him narrowly. It didn't trust him, but the offer seemed to sound good. The foreign warrior was waking up fully now, blinking furiously. Link opened his mouth to elaborate and tender potential promises, when a voice spoke.

"Ah, but even if he accepted, it wouldn't do him any good, boy," the new voice spoke. Link's head snapped over one shoulder, then to the other. Who else was in here? Who could he have missed? But there was something about the voice… A feeling of dread overtook his surprise. It was deep and smooth, it made the hairs on the back of his neck and his arms stand up. Judging by loudness and echo, he looked where it should have been coming from, and saw only empty air. He felt he could guess who owned the disembodied voice.

"Ganon…" he growled. "My lord!" shouted the lizalfos.

"Correct," the King of Evil said from nowhere. "You see, kid, you're locked in here. My servants and I wove an impenetrable force field over the Sanctuary that lets things in, but not back out. You can't break it down, and it will not dissipate. _No one_ leaves. My apologies, Captain Strong-Tail, but you have proven expendable."

"My lord, no!" The lizalfos leader was looking imploringly at the invisible source of the voice. "Forgive your loyal servant! Let me out of here, I beg you! I haven't finished the mission you gave me!"

"Save it, you won't get the chance!" the foreign hero vowed cohesively, summoned a last meager reserve of strength, head-butted behind him half-blindly, and began to fight the grip. The back of his head struck the monster squarely in the nose. It recoiled with an angry hiss, then its sword arm tensed, moving the edge of its weapon to open the human's throat.

Link's arrow struck it under the arm, where its mail didn't protect. He had moved quickly to the side as the struggle began suddenly, and with a clearer shot, loosed the shaft. The monster screamed and flung the prisoner aside, sending him to land flat on the ground. He cried out in pain when his head struck the stone. A sluggish reflex, slowed by the sudden drop into unconsciousness, made him curl into a fetal position. The hero in green felt sick alarm in his stomach; how many blows to the head would the man take tonight?

Strong-Tail's nose was bleeding and it screeched in rage as it pulled Link's arrow out of its flesh. "This is _your_ fault!" it accused him, readying its scimitar. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come! I'll kill you!" It bounded forward with alarming speed, prompting Link to cast aside his bow in favor of his shield. He had to parry four furious attacks and give up several yards of ground before he could worry about drawing his own weapon. This foe was much faster and stronger than its subordinates he'd already destroyed, and they hadn't been wearing metal armor. Neither had they been as angry.

Link stayed on the defensive, riposting only rarely and backing away when he knew that only distance could save him from some of the harder attacks. He was waiting for a good chance to counterattack, wound it as it prepared its own slash, but Strong-Tail was pressing him too hard and relentlessly. Then it seemed to regain its head, because it offered a feint to the skull that Link took, moving to stop an attack that didn't come and opening his defense to the true assault at the outside of his leg. The cut hit him squarely and hurt, and he immediately tried to open the distance between them before the lizalfos followed up with another successful attack.

It responded to his backpedal with a step, a drop to the floor, and a pivot, and Link learned why the monster was named Strong-Tail when it swept his feet out from under him. He tried to roll backwards with the trip but still hit his upper back and one shoulderblade hard against the stone floor. Still, he was on his feet and farther away from Strong-Tail than had been expected, because the monster was already committed to an attack that fell short and was aimed at a supine opponent, much like the one Link had finished the moblin with. Both fighters were kneeling on the floor now, and Strong-Tail's blade was out of place. He had his chance to attack, and attack he did, slashing laterally at his foe's neck on its off-hand side. Its gorget took the blow, but it broke where it was attached to the breastplate and fell off.

Both of them rose to their feet as Link attacked again at head and arm. The momentum quickly shifted back to the reptile's favor when Link overcommitted and it came out better in a bind. Back on the defensive, Link was wary, trying to stay alert for another feint. It came soon at his head.

One of the things he liked about using a shield and sword was the two options for parrying. He raised it to protect his skull, attentive this time to the true attack when it came at his unwounded leg. His sword stopped it, and as Strong-Tail saw his assault fail he half-pivoted to swing his tail again quickly. Link saw the move coming, avoided it, then came forward and shoved the off-balance monster with his shield. It stumbled back, caught itself against a pillar, and found Link coming right at it. Rather than dodge or retreat, Strong-Tail leapt into him in an attempted tackle. The swordsman held it off with his shield, though the force of the impact almost took him off his feet. With the monster too close to cut and scrabbling with its claws for a grip in his tunic, he dealt it a pommel-strike in the head. Strong-Tail winced and hissed, then its head turned, caught Link's wrist in its jaws, and bit.

His bracer mostly protected him, though he felt teeth penetrate the leather and his skin slightly. He hit it with the edge of his shield, trying to make the lizalfos let go, but it refused and went into the kind of roll that crocodiles make when they've fastened on to prey. Rather than let his arm be twisted out of joint or his bracer torn off to allow teeth deeper in his flesh, Link rolled with it, but was forced to relinquish his grip on his sword as they tumbled across the ground.

The monster felt a thrill of anticipation at the sound of the weapon clattering to the floor. It released his wrist as they came to a crouch facing each other, swooped forward with its long arms and hands supporting it in the manner of an ape, and kicked Link in the chest. The human was knocked several feet back onto his haunches and slid. Strong-Tail was already moving towards where his sword lay. As Link watched and lurched to his feet, the monster scooped it up, buried it deeply in the floor, set one foot to the hilt, and pushed forward with all its strength.

The weapon flexed, but the stress was too much for a mundane blade to take, however fine it was. With a strong, reverberating tone, it broke at about five inches down from the guard. The shorn hilt clattered to the flags and Strong-Tail grinned, hoping to see the hero furious at the destruction of his weapon.

It was right, but hadn't been expecting quite the reaction it got. Link's teeth indeed bared and his eyes opened wide, but he pulled his arm free of his shield and flung it at the monster. It spun only awkwardly, but possessed enough force to bruise the lizalfos's arm severely and even open a cut.

Strong-Tail hissed and was about to charge its foe and finish him, only to stop when he saw the greatsword coming out again. Link's strides were long and measured as he came forward and swung. Reach and power were his advantages suddenly, and he drove Strong-Tail back with heavy swings. Blows landed on its torso, and though its mail protected it, its ability to block was staggered. The monster was then late to parry the cut that broke through its pauldron and penetrated to the collarbone. The lizalfos dropped its weapon from a sword-arm badly damaged at the shoulder and crumpled to its knees. Strong-Tail cried out weakly, Link prepared the large sword over his shoulder, and struck off the monster's head.

It, and the body, vanished into smoke before either hit the ground. Link paid little attention, however, sheathing the long weapon and kneeling to pick up his primary sword's hilt from the ground. He frowned darkly at it and the separated blade still jutting out of the flags, then he dropped it with a sigh and moved quickly to check on the foreign hero curled up on the floor.

Before he reached him, a loud, harsh laugh filled the Sanctuary. _Sounds a lot worse than his speaking voice_, Link thought as he knelt at the side of the other human. He found his breathing to be shallow but steady, and his heartbeat weak. Rather than acknowledge the discomfort he felt at the sound, he asked, "What's so funny, Ganon?" when the laughter had gone on for some time

"Lots of things," the disembodied voice replied. "For one, you should've seen your face." Link shrugged his backpack off and dug out the kit he kept his medicine in. He drank a potion himself to staunch his bleeding, then carefully rolled the unconscious hero onto his back and trickled another down his throat. "For another, I see what your 'mercy' is worth, with you offering Strong-Tail his life and then taking it immediately."

"He was going to kill him," Link retorted defensively.

"It's not like I care, boy. Ah, he tried so hard, didn't he? Wouldn't have done him any good. I was telling the truth; _I_ can't dismantle the spell."

"Then you've locked your sacrifice in here too, you know," the human said. "And he'll live." The hero was certain he would, too. Blows to the head were fiendishly tricky to treat, especially for someone with only a basic grasp of healing like Link, but he chose an oil and salve that would reduce swelling in his head. He noticed for the first time the array of bruises and welts he bore from his capture, and applied medicines to speed their healing.

"He's not necessary," Ganon replied. "I've already done more than you'll ever know without a body, and it has its advantages. You can't hurt what you can't hit."

"I don't suppose you've locked yourself in here, too, so I can try."

"Of course not. I'm not _in_ your world; I'm merely talking into it. You couldn't so much as scratch me, anyway."

"Then why don't you go away, you miserable ghost? I'll deal with you later." Link wasn't doing well with the verbal dueling, and needed to think about how he'd get out of here.

"Aren't you curious," the voice said slyly, "how I caught you? Even you must know it's not easy to create a barrier as strong as this one, and only passable in one direction."

"This was a trap the whole time? You _wanted_ me to try to rescue him?"

"No, no," the disembodied King of Evil replied with a chuckle. Link, finished with the unconscious hero, turned him back onto his side and rose. He went to the shrine's door to test the barrier. "Lucky for you I didn't have time to prepare anything. It was the spur of the moment when I saw you coming to attack my troops. Now, the Four Sword's seal," he continued on in the tone of a lecture, "_that's_ an impressive spell. Holding strong against time and Vaati trying to beat it down _and_ wriggle through, with the only key the sword staying in its stone, which can't be drawn except by the pure of heart. Sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it?"

Link didn't reply. He'd physically touched the wall of magic holding him in, then attempted a spell, hoping it might disrupt it.

"I told you that won't work, didn't I?" He continued in his previous vein. "It would take me days to conjure such a strong field, with or without the sword being the key. I had less than half an hour, and we crafted it from here in the Dark World. Of course… It's amazing what you can do, when you already have a foundation to work off."

Realization hit the Hylian. "You added it to the sword's seal…"

Ganon laughed harshly again. "Maybe you're not so dense after all. Yes, just like the enchantments that push most beings away from the shrine, I tied it to the seal on the Wind Mage. It won't come down unless his seal is lifted."

"The Princess will find me here. She'll come, and she'll be able to undo what you've done."

"Unlikely, not without much research and effort. Besides, who's to say what might happen along the way if she came…? And imagine, Hyrule Castle, all alone without its Princess to watch over it and give orders to its soldiers…" Link was seething quietly, hands flexing in frustration. "I see you understand. So what'll it be, hero? Will you sit in here, waiting for Her Highness to _maybe_ set you free while I go about my business unchallenged in your land? Or will you draw the sword and… multiply your troubles?" The voice chuckled at its own wit. "The choice is yours, of course."

With that, Ganon's invisible presence was conspicuous by its absence. "Blast!" The swordsman paced for a bit, then struck the barrier with his hammer only to be bounced back, hard. He changed into a fairy again to fruitlessly test it higher up. He dug with his bare hands but the field seemed to have no lower edge, and there were no tunnels or secret passages leading out through underground.

It looked like he'd been right, Link had only two options. He put it off for some time. He checked on his unconscious companion. The foreign hero seemed to be doing well enough, and Link let him rest. He tugged the broken blade of his sword out of the floor, placed it and the hilt into its scabbard, and stored them in his bag. He retrieved his bow and shield, and stalled a bit more by rubbing at the scuffs the latter had received from the day's adventure. Then, unable to avoid it any longer, he turned his attention to the Four Sword.

There it was, almost mocking him with the way it stood placidly in its black pedestal, the stone in its pommel shining a different color depending on how the light struck it, unnaturally clean without even cobwebs running between its quillions and the flanges at the ricasso.

_Come on, Link_, he told himself. _He might not be wasting any time, chances are he's already raising havoc out there while you're in here_.

Truthfully, it was no choice at all. Link's stomach turned, but he strode steadily to the blade. He looked down at it, up at the relief carved on the wall, then down at it again as he wrapped his hand around the gold-colored hilt. It was cool to the touch, and he thought he felt a vibration run through it momentarily, but he may have imagined it. Then he took a deep breath, set his jaw, and pulled upward. It came with a grinding of steel on stone.

Link had a thrill as he thought for maybe an instant that nothing would happen.

But as soon as its point emerged from the pedestal, all placidness was demolished. An explosion of dark magic enveloped Link, greasy, sticky, and numbingly cold, accompanied with the sensation of being pulled forward by what had to be a powerful river. He had an impression of a large, amorphous, black shape of some sort. At the same time an electric charge and painful vibration filled his head, his limbs, his body, making his ears ring like they never had, his eyes crushingly sensitive to the light. Also they ached as if he'd held them crossed for far, far too long. The maelstrom of sensations buffeted him from all sides, he cried out in pain, felt he was lifted off the ground, and fell unconscious.

* * *

**A/N:** Wow, I took two chapters before actually getting to the split. And you won't actually meet the team until next time...

**Edit:** But as it happens, that day is today! This evening I finished what was to be Chapter 7. It turned out to be a good deal of text, though, and I decided it would be better broken up into two chapters. I think they turned out pretty well. You won't see those yet, but you _do_ get a double update!

Also, I'm curious how the story is being received. Please review, let me know what you like, what you don't like; I look forward to hearing from you!


	3. You're all different!

_Link has pursued the foreign hero and the leader of the lizalfos into the Four Sword Sanctuary, intent on rescuing him once more and denying Ganon the sacrifice that would lead to his revival. However, the trap is revealed when Ganon speaks from the Dark World. He tells the hero that he's erected a barrier around the shrine that will not fall until the sword is drawn. The last lizalfos is slain and the foreigner is unconscious, but alive, yet Link has lost this night. He pulls the Four Sword from its stone. The act is traumatic, and Link blacks out before seeing the aftermath of releasing Vaati and taking the sword's power and curse upon himself..._

Maybe the sensory overload was gone. It might be safe to wake up now.

His head swam clumsily back into cohesion, but it no longer ached, and he wanted to open his eyes. He did so and stared up at the ceiling.

_Okay_, he thought. _I'm going to sit up, and I'm going to see three of myself_. Everything felt… okay. There was something weird, but that was probably to be expected. He took a breath and sat up.

He did see three of himself, but no, this couldn't be right, he must still be dizzy. He closed his eyes, rubbed them, shook his head, and opened them again.

He started out looking down this time, at his own lap. Green, his tunic was green, he saw. That was right, that was good. He raised his head, bracing himself, determined to accept what his eyes told him.

There _were_ three others here, in tunic, hat, boots, and fingerless gauntlets, all dark-blond-haired, their clothing different colors. But, they were _others_, they weren't him, or even nearly the same size…

"Whoa," a voice said. He didn't think it had been him who'd spoken.

The one that drew the eye the strongest was in rich red, but color was only part of it. Sheer _size_ was the rest, for this Link was large, perhaps five inches taller just in a sitting position on the ground, and very broad in the shoulders and chest, thick of limb and neck, square in the jaw, muscular overall. His eyes, too, seemed to be red.

The next was wearing bright blue, and was also tall, but… lanky. _His_ limbs were long and gangly, hands, feet, and ears large (even for the pointed ears of one with strong Hylian blood) neck long, slim in the trunk, thin in the face, blue-eyed as he should have been. His tunic and hat seemed too big for him. He looked comical, sitting with his legs sticking straight out and arms angled back to support him, mouth hanging open as he looked at the others. "The Princess never said anything about this in the story," he said with conviction, but slowly, as if tasting the words with a newly-appreciative palette.

The last might have been missed if not for the distinctive, deep purple of his tunic and hat, for he was small, only the size of a boy. He had large, violet eyes, oversized ears, a wide forehead, and a pre-adolescent child's proportions in his form. But his face was grave and he gave the impression of uncanny precociousness, of a boy who knew far more than his years would warrant.

"Wha… You're all _different_," the one in green said, looking back from small to tall to huge.

"So are you," replied the child evenly, not blinking those wide eyes.

He looked down at himself, at the length of his limbs. "No, I feel… I look the same."

"He's right," the giant in red said, gesturing at the green one with a thick hand. "I—or, we, or whatever—didn't look like that."

He rose to his feet, and realized that they were right. His body _did_ feel different, as if he was already warmed up for exercise or a fight, and his movements came smoother. His size seemed roughly the same, but as he palpated himself he felt a new tone and slim strength in his muscles. He found his pack sitting off to one side of them and pulled out a bottle to look in its shiny surface at his warped reflection. He was startled to find deep green eyes looking back at him where they had been sapphire blue before. The green one was narrower in the face, too, with sharper angles to his jaw, brows, and cheekbones, and a thinner nose, all giving his visage a vulpine quality.

"How did this happen?" he asked aloud.

"I'm sure it wasn't in the story," the blue one responded. "I don't know, maybe this little detail about the sword didn't make it into the story. Speaking of which…" He picked up his shard of the blade from where it lay near at hand, sheathed, and turned to the red Link. "Look at this; they're different, too."

When red- and blue-pommeled weapons were compared side-by-side, they found the red one to be broad and hefty; the blue long, tapering towards the point, with oversized quillions that made it look awkward.

The green hero came forward with his as well, and found that his sword was much lighter and slimmer than was the custom of the complete swordsman. They looked over at the purple one's and saw that his was much smaller, all but a shortsword, but its owner was looking about with his old-young brow furrowed instead of at them.

"Where are we?" he asked.

When the other three finally paid attention, they saw clearly that they weren't in the Four Sword Sanctuary any longer. The room of dun-colored stone they found themselves in was large and circular but comparatively low-ceilinged. Their small cluster with equipment scattered around was near the square dais in the middle of the circle. An oval of close-set columns surrounded them, midway between the room's center and its perimeter.

"Reminds me of a cage," the blue hero commented.

"Have you seen those yet, then?" asked the green Link, pointing to the mess of chains stapled down to the floor at all sides of the dais.

The red one whistled and strode over to a tangle of iron restraint and picked it up. The links were the thickness of his fingers, which was considerable. "Looks like overkill," he observed as he took in the fact that the many chains were all this heavy. "But it looks like it still wasn't enough." He held up stretched, twisted, and broken lengths to show them.

"Vaati's prison," said the violet Link, his eyes half-lidded. "I think that's where we are now."

"Hold on," said the tall one, scratching his head. "Wasn't he imprisoned _in_ the sword? Which is here, with us?"

"And I always thought that… I don't know, it was more _magical_, less like an actual cell," the green hero said.

"Maybe this is how the seal manifests. Seems appropriate to me for holding Vaati in," the purple Link replied. "Besides, wasn't the sword made by the tiny little Picori people? Maybe the prison's actually in the pedestal or something like that, but I'm sure I feel his aura left behind."

The thought that entered the heads of the other three was that they'd never been that sensitive to magic, but they said nothing, and the red one changed the subject. "Let's just try to get out of here. There's work to do."

"I'm with… Red, on that one," said the green Link. "Is that how we should call each other? By our colors?"

"Simple enough," endorsed Purple as he rose to his feet. He picked up their bow from the ground, and frowned. "While we're at it, there's only one of each weapon here."  
"Including the broken sword?" asked Green.

"Yeah, that's in here," said Blue, feeling the backpack and pinching what must have been the sheathed blade. "That seems strange; the only things that the Four Sword divided were us and our clothing. I wonder why that is, we had everything when we drew the sword."

"Well, let's divvy up what we have, then," said Green. "I think I'd like the bow.

Blue declared, "Then I call the boomerang."

"Biggoron's Sword," chimed in Red as he went for the two-handed weapon.

"There's the fire rod, I'll take that," Purple said.

Next, Green chose the hookshot, the Hylian Maul went to Red, Blue laid claim to the Power Bracelet, and Purple picked up the pouch of Deku nuts. Green wanted their bombs, and since neither of the tall Links really wanted it, Purple took the shield. The thin hero volunteered to carry the backpack with the miscellaneous gear that no one else had claimed. Then the four of them turned their attention to getting out of this room.

Its single rolling stone door was heavy and would not open to the large hero's strength. He wanted to take the hammer to its jamb, hoping that would make the latch let go.

"That'd take forever," objected Green.

"Well if you don't have a different idea, that's what I'm going to do," Red replied roughly, and he swung the maul, sending out chips of stone with each blow.

Green's expression was one of surprised distaste as he turned away, letting the flecks hit against his back instead of his face. "Fine." He walked away from the door and began searching the room for a switch, surveying the floor for a raised tile, something that they'd overlooked while the giant kept pounding away. To his frustration, he could see nothing that looked like a switch. _There's no way we're getting out by beating down the door_, he said to himself, his ire starting to rise from a combination of being tricked, trapped, and forced to put up with an overbearing, overmuscled clone of himself. He was inspecting the pillars, thinking one of them might hold a way out, when Blue came up to him.

"Let me see the bombs."

"What for?" the lithe hero snapped.

"Hey, easy, buddy!" frowned the skinny swordsman. "No need to bite my head off. And I want them because I think I found part of the wall that'll bomb down."

"Well, you could've said please or something," he groused as he handed over the satchel of explosives.

Blue held back a 'Sorr-ee!' and said instead, "Thanks. We'll be out of here in a minute." He made his way back towards the spot that had looked crumbled but whose destruction wouldn't bring the whole place down, pulling out one of the round bombs. He arrived to find that Red had moved there from the door and was knocking stones out with the maul.

"Hey, I found that spot!" he said over the sound of the hammer-blows.

"And now I'm opening it up for us," his crimson counterpart replied.

"Why didn't you just stay at the door? I was getting a bomb."

"The door wasn't working," answered Red, "and I'm saving you the bomb."

"… All right, fine, thanks for saving us the bomb, but you're gonna tire yourself out needlessly, and it was my spot."

With a brutal grunt, Red made one final, hard swing, and the hole opened enough to let them through easily. He replaced the hammer in his belt, dusting off the head, and turned to look Blue directly in the eye. "Okay, two things: don't worry about me; and what's it matter whose spot it was? We're through, after you, let's get out of here already." He folded his arms across his broad chest and stared at his thin companion in anticipation.

Green gave Blue an exasperated look and shrug as if to say, 'See, isn't he a slug?' The taller one offered him back the bombs, but Green waved them away and made for the new hole. "You hold on to them; they're heavy anyway." Neither he nor Red looked at each other as he slipped through the opening.

Irritated in turn by Green's dismissive manner and sticking him with a burden he thought was heavy, he followed and ducked through the hole in the wall. Red squeezed after him. On the other side they found themselves in a corridor ringing the circular cell, with Purple leaning against the wall across from them.

"Took your time getting out here," he said in a purposefully mild tone that made it all the more mocking.

They only stared for a moment before Green wanted to know how he'd gotten out ahead of them.

"There was a grate near the floor over that way," Purple replied, gesturing in its direction. "I turned into a fairy and slipped through. Did you know there's a switch over that way," he gestured towards the door that Red had been trying to come through, "that I think opens the door?"

"No, we did not," answered Green heatedly, "Seeing as how we've been stuck _inside_ the room while you've been out here. _Why_ didn't you trip it and let us out?"

"Because you three were too busy arguing to ask or even notice I was gone," Purple said, dropping his mildness in favor of disgust. "I hope you see my point, because we've wasted enough time already. Now how about we get moving?" He pushed off the wall and walked down the corridor as quickly as his short legs would carry him in an angry stride.

It was like that for the rest of their trudge through the prison. As the other three started for a crystal switch, Green beat them all to the punch by loosing an arrow at it. They debated about whether or not a floor switch would need continuous pressure to hold a door open, and if Purple was even heavy enough to trip it. Blue swept up a key with the boomerang rather than let Red knock it down from its ledge, and so on. A lock that needed to be released by pushing several stone blocks around was particularly troublesome and started a large argument, with Blue trying to direct them on where to push as he stood on tip-toe to figure it out, and Green and Red not inclined to listen and asking why he didn't come over and help push. Finally the blocks fell into place, they stumbled through a door into what seemed to be a wide entrance hall, sniping at each other still.

Their argument was arrested when they beheld the hall. It was quite beautiful, vaulted, with short, narrow windows set high all along the ceiling, letting in early morning twilight. This set Blue off.

"Hold on, why is there daylight coming in if we're _in_ the—"

Green clamped a hand over his mouth and hissed "_Shut up_!" as he looked pointedly at the hulking form kneeling in the center of the hall. The lanky hero gently removed the lithe swordsman's hand, indicating he would be quiet as demanded.

"What's wrong? It looks like a statue," he whispered.

"I can hear it breathing," Purple murmured, his hand going to the fire rod in his belt.

The door they'd just passed through banged shut of its own accord as the shape stirred. A faint green glow materialized down its shoulders and arms and metal clinked loudly. It rose to its full height of eleven feet and turned towards them with arms held wide.

It was some kind of giant, resembling a hinox in size and form, but if that's what it had once been it looked much improved. The glow was coming from large runes scribed from its muscular upper arms down to its wrists, as if they were cut into its hide and let out the otherworldly green light. They spelled out the word _contain_ and _eternity _on each arm in Old Hylian. Its skin was almost black, accented with other glowing glyphs at its joints. Thick armor covered its chest and abdomen. One eye occupied its forehead, but several others were painted or scribed or tattooed around its shoulder girdle, and they gave the impression of function. Mounted on the backs of its wrists were manacles large enough to clamp around a waist that each made a sort of C-clamp claw. A mess of chain hung from each side of its waist. Huge three-fingered hands flexed, it bared sharp teeth, and it growled menacingly at them as it advanced.

"Time to work," Blue quipped as they spread out to face the giant.

* * *

**A/N:** Double update, but I still had to leave you with a cliffhanger. I'm bad, but at least this one didn't close with someone falling unconscious again.

Tell me how you like it! See you next time!


	4. Do something!

_It is done. The Four Sword is drawn, Vaati is loose, and Link is split into four fragments of himself that don't get along. They're trapped in Vaati's old prison, and before they can escape, they have to somehow deal with the Wind Mage's warden._

The guardian strode towards the split hero. Rather than let themselves be pushed up against the wall, they came to meet the huge creature partway across the floor, where each considered the best way to assault it. Green followed his first impulse to shoot it in the eye, nocked an arrow, and loosed. It was shockingly quick, though, shutting the orb and furrowing its craggy brow, and the shaft bounced back from the thick lid with no harm done. It was focused on another hero, however, and one gigantic hand reached out at Purple. He fleched to the rear as he activated the fire rod, and spewed a cone of flame at the offending grasp. It withdrew the singed (but unharmed) hand and shook it, then had its attention arrested by Red coming at it with the Biggoron's Sword swinging. It parried the blade with its manacle and punched, cracking flagstones but missing the red one, who had dodged to the side and swung at its elbow, only to have the heavy sword turned back again. Blue was pestering it with the boomerang, but it was able to ignore the blows to its neck, shoulders, and painted eyes, interspersed with arrow impacts from an increasingly frustrated Green.

The thing was tough, that was for sure, they were making no progress and could see no weak points.

"Red!" shouted Green as he drew another arrow back to his ear. "Smash its toes with the hammer! Maybe that'll slow it down!"

"No, I have a better idea!" the hulking swordsman responded. "Blue, try some bombs, maybe that'll loosen up its armor."

"Looks too solid. Shorty, more fire, he didn't seem to like that!"

"Are you talking to me?"

"Will you guys—" Green began, but was interrupted when it struck back seriously.

The giant threw out a hand and one manacle shot from its wrist and snapped closed at the end of a long chain tether, around Green's waist. It flung out its other claw and caught Red around one shoulder, but he was quick enough to slip the arm free before both manacles snapped back into place on the creature's wrists. The archer was deposited into the grasp of its hand and held, though he began to squirm with all his might.

"Do something!" he yelled, then gasped as it tightened its grip in response to his wiggling.

It appeared momentarily confused as it looked at the warrior in its hand, but then turned its gaze on the other three. Red was wary about getting close again, but was looking for an opportunity. However it gave none, instead sweeping out over the ground with its free manacle. The chain struck the sturdy warrior in the ankles and knocked him onto his side. It began to move towards where he lay. Blue knew their chances of winning this fight were drastically cut if both Green and Red were caught, so he risked a bomb despite the danger to his allies. He pulled on the end of the fuse with his fingernails and heard it _snap_ clearly as it lit, and lobbed it at the creature. All its eyes spun to the sight of the explosive bouncing towards its feet. With admirable reflexes it kicked it as if it were a ball and sent it sailing over the heads of the two upright Links to explode harmlessly behind them.

Then its free hand went to its hip, and suddenly a heavy net made of chain had landed on them.

As they struggled to get free, Green made an exasperated noise and drew another arrow as far back as he could. While its attention was on his fellows, he shot the arrow at point-blank range into its eye. "Now _do something_!" he screamed while it howled and covered the injured socket.

"Ask me when I can stand, why don't you!" snapped Blue as he thrashed. Red had gotten up and came at it with the sword, only to be kicked back.

"It's not as blind as you make out, thanks," he growled, and rolled away from stomping feet. It wasn't focused on any of the heroes, not even the one in its grasp, but its eyes still kept it alert enough to swipe and kick at Red as he tried to lay into it with his blade.

Purple slithered free and approached the giant with his fire rod leveled, but frowned and came no closer, watching its feet carefully. It was gingerly pulling the arrow out of its eye, and Green tried to exhort him to action. "What are you doing? He's recovering!"

"_Thank_ you for letting it know for sure I'm here," the violet hero growled, "and I'm sure Red can tell us that its feet are dangerous."

"Where is it, where is it, where is it?" muttered the thin hero. He'd finally wormed out of the net and was rifling through the backpack.

"You wanna join us?" asked Red him with liberal sarcasm as he got to his feet after being knocked flying again.

"I can't find the Deku nuts! One of you guys got 'em?"

"Here!" shouted Purple as he dug one out of the pouch and hurled it at the giant's chest.

Green shouted at him to wait, but too late, as the nut broke against its breastplate and released its flash, blinding the guardian in all its eyes, but also Green and Blue. Despite its thrashing and screaming, Red finally hamstrung it with a slash from his greatsword, and it toppled. Purple rushed upon it as it hit the ground and turned the rod on its face, pouring out a continuous blast of flame. Red hacked at its side once, but still frustrated by its mail, he dropped the blade and pounced upon its torso with the hammer instead. He made dents and caused it pain, and it dropped a still-blind Green. But its limbs flailed wildly and knocked all three of them away.

There was confusion, as Green screamed at Purple for using the nut without ample warning, Blue rubbed at his streaming eyes and asked what was going on, and Red shouted at both of them to shut it as he levered himself to his feet, for he saw that the hinox wasn't as lame as he'd hoped. It, too, was getting back up, and its sight was returning. "Scatter!" he cried as it took its second chain net in hand and flung it at the cluster of himself and his smallest companions. Green tripped himself and Purple as he tried to scramble blindly. Just as the snare began to descend on them, Purple spun onto his backside, set his feet against Green's side, and pushed them apart, out of the net's grasp. Before the agile hero could thank him or shout at him again (Purple felt that each was equally likely, judging from Green's expression), a manacle shot out and caught him firmly around the chest. Given time, he could have slipped free, but he was reeled into the guardian's grasp instantly and given no chance. The small hero shouted, twisted, and loosed the power of the fire rod full into its face again. It closed its eye, though, and was unperturbed.

Unperturbed, but still distracted. Blue had regained enough of his sight to try another bomb. He let this one's fuse burn down in his hands before he threw it at the monster's feet. His timing was good, because it exploded after bouncing once and knocked the hinox over onto its back. Purple got himself loose by burning its hand. Red was upon it quickly with the hammer again, pounding solidly. Green joined him a moment later and put three arrows into its throat, drawn and loosed in quick succession. Blue shouted, "Bomb incoming!" and they backed off. When it exploded against its side, its armor was blown apart. Before it could recover from the stun, each swordsman had drawn his piece of the Four Sword and driven it into the supine giant's chest. It roared, twitched, and finally fell back against the floor. The hinox's inner green light went out, and in the space of a moment it had faded into nothingness.

The four of them exploded into argument again, over mistakes made, credit for finally beating the monster, opportunities wasted, and refusal to listen to a good idea when it was presented. Before too long Purple walked away with a clenched jaw, sheathing his blade and tucking the fire rod back into his belt. He looked around the hall and tried to block out the sound of their voices. A glow caught his eye at the far end of the hall, and when he went to investigate, he found a section of white tile built up from the floor a few inches. This was what was glowing, and giving off motes of light that floated towards the ceiling.

He had to shout all three of them down before he could get their attention, a fact that did not improve his mood. "Look, there's a portal over there. Let's just go. We won, and there are things to do out there."

"Well we would've won _faster_ if—" began Green, but Blue cut him off.

"Hey! Shorty's right, _enough already_, I want to get out of here. We'll talk about how you were a bossy idiot here later."

Green was about to riposte and Purple looked livid, when Red grabbed both of them by the backs of their collars and started for the portal, dragging them along. "_We're going_," the big hero rumbled. In the space of a few steps they'd twisted out of his grip and were walking, still seething, under their own power.

Thus, after a long ordeal in Vaati's prison, the quadrifurcated hero set foot on the portal plate and disappeared back into the Four Sword Sanctuary, their proper size.

Dawn was breaking, and the shrine was damaged even worse than when they'd been sucked into the dungeon. Another pillar had come down and the front wall was completely fallen in, but it was still standing, and inside, it was still somewhat beautiful.

Green frowned as he looked around. "Where's the…? Where is he?" there was no sign of the foreign warrior on whose behalf they'd found themselves here in the first place. They searched, but he wasn't trapped under any of the new debris, or anywhere inside the shrine.

"It was night when we went in, he must have woken up and left," said Blue. "But that's a good thing, if he could leave, then the barrier's down."

"And Vaati's loose for sure," added Purple dourly.

"I can't find the lizalfos's sword," Red told them. "He must have taken it when he left."

"Well, he's a tough guy, and now he's armed," the lanky swordsman said. "I guess he'll be okay. Maybe he's going home, we were in there long enough for him to give up."

"Let's get back," Green suggested. "Things to do. The Princess needs to know what's happened."

With that, the four of them left the shrine and went to retrieve their horse.

* * *

At Hyrule Castle, Link was eight hours late. The sun was setting. Princess Zelda was waiting with frustrated patience. He'd extracted a promise from her not to worry about him or check on him as he went out on this mission, and she was long-since regretting that she'd given it. The promise had entailed that she not scry for him, nor send out search parties. The former he'd rationalized that her magic would be better-used to search for information on Ganon's agents; the latter that he would be better-able to sneak up on the capture party if he went alone, and also better-able to follow them without being discovered if it came to that.

Link had given an estimate that he'd complete the mission and return by late morning today, but had even allowed for having to walk instead of ride, with time to spare. Now he'd overshot the liberal figure by a large margin, and the princess was very near to breaking her royal word. With Ganon orchestrating his own return, Link was far too valuable to lose or even misplace temporarily. His prowess in combat was undisputed (even to himself, as modest as he was) and he was an inspiration, but what she hadn't told him was her suspicions that he was a fated hero of Hyrule, the one who would defeat the King of Evil. He admired her command of magic, and had hinted his beliefs that _she_ would be the one to end his threat. Zelda really didn't know either way. For the moment he freely lent his sword to her cause, and that was more than enough.

Despite everything he'd gotten her promise, and now she was severely regretting it. Yet she had too much to do to simply watch and wait for the hero to come riding back. So she set a page to watch for the figure in green's return and buried herself in the mind-numbing task of corroborating testimony from Ganon's servants they'd captured. It kept her busy, but her mind was quickly reaching its limit for the monotonous work, and her concern increased with every hour that Link remained overdue.

So her relief was twofold when the door of her study banged open to admit the breathless boy who'd been keeping an eye out for her. "Your Highness! Please excuse me, but I think I saw Link coming back! He'll be here soon!"

"Thank you, Cody," she said, dropping her pen and rising from her seat. "That will do for now."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Cody stayed to hold the door for her as she exited the study and sketched her a bow with his most charming and courteous grin.

Zelda was unable to hold back her smile, and laid her hand momentarily on the top of his head as she crossed the threshold. "Go, play," she told him. He bowed once more, then did as she bade while she closed the door. Then she gave a slight hitch to her skirt, and hurried off through the castle towards the outer wall and the postern courtyard, her long hair of gold and red flying behind her.

Link hardly ever used the main gate of the castle, especially these days when he made an effort to keep his movements hidden from potential spies. She could be certain this was how he'd make his return, so she made her way to the high balcony and bastion of the castle's inner wall that overlooked the small cobbled quadrangle. Dark was falling now, the day's warmth beginning to dissipate. Her hands came to rest on its granite rail and her ears caught the sound of voices on the gate's far side. Their volume and unusual chatter did not escape her notice. Then its latch raised, and the door was pushed inward by one of the guards to admit the hero.

Four men and a horse came through the gate, one a boy astride her back while the others walked. All were weary. The princess's brow furrowed momentarily as she wondered what had led Link to bring three people to the castle when he'd set out to rescue one, but a gasp escaped her when they turned their faces up to her at the balcony and she saw that somehow they _were_ Link, in his normal green, plus blue, red, and purple, all different sizes. They saluted her with hand over heart and a slight bow, and chorused (accidentally), "Your Highness."

She was momentarily stunned at the sight, and the few soldiers in the yard were murmuring. The small one in purple dropped down from the steed and they dusted themselves off. Zelda's hand rose to her mouth and her sky-blue eyes widened as the ramifications of what she saw hit home. "Oh, no…"

* * *

**A/N:** The wheels are turning on the rest of the story, but the presses are not yet stamping... Still wanted to share the next chapter, though.

Review away!


	5. In need of your knowledge

_The split Links have somehow made it through their first battle, and their first day divided, without killing each other. Ganon's sacrifice, the foreign hero, is nowhere to be found, but it's assumed that he's alive, well, free, and on his way back home. Green, Red, Blue, and Purple have returned to Hyrule Castle with their rescue mission successful, but with themselves as evidence that all did not go well._

"What is to be done, Your Highness?" asked the commander of the Hylian Knights. The morning was still early. He and the princess stood in the war room of Hyrule Castle, at the table given over to a map of the realm, which the two of them had stood over often these days, consulting, and writing on the chart.

"For now I want what happened to Link kept secret, Captain," she replied. She looked exhausted, he couldn't help but notice, like one who had not slept a wink for two days. "It could cause a panic, and it seems people are beginning to feel that something is wrong anyway. I need you to speak to the sentries we know saw him, and find out who else may have, and bring them in. Fortunately it was nearly dark when he arrived, and he came through the postern, so few people were around. He—they—told me that they passed through no towns or villages on the way here. But bring the witnesses to the castle, and explain to them that I don't want word spreading about this. Therefore I will bind the secret in their minds until all this is over."

Captain Barrit nodded and stroked his expansive black moustache. "As you command, milady. Do we have a permanent solution to the problem? Or will we continue to focus on Ganon, and deal with the Wind Mage after the King of Evil is taken care of?"

"I'd considered that," she replied, and sat down for what must have been the first time in hours. She sighed, but pressed on instead of allowing relaxation to overtake her. "But I want to see to Vaati before he can cause any serious damage. I'm going to come up with a better way to hold him, but it will take me some time. In the stories he was usually abducting young girls, so I want knights in the villages to look after them and inform us if any of them go missing. In the meanwhile, what news of Ganon?"

"Nothing much, unfortunately, Highness. His labyrinth is still evading us, but we haven't searched everywhere. Leads from the prisoners aren't being very helpful. Most of who we've been finding are small fish who were unwitting to helping him, and I think the real traitors know now that they've been given up, because most of them have vanished. He knows we're onto him now, Highness; when we _do_ find it, his guard will be up and it won't be easy."

"Reconnaissance, then, when you do find it, but the scouts are to be careful and take _no_ risks. We're still looking for the chinks in his armor."

"As you command, Your Highness."

"If there's nothing else, Captain, thank you for your report, but I have something I need to do."

"If I may say so, milady, I hope it includes sleep."

"Thank you for your candor, Captain. Bring in everyone who saw Link in his current state, see to the villages, and keep me informed if any young girls go missing. That will be all."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Barrit hadn't missed the edge in her voice, but she hadn't reprimanded him directly, either. He bowed with a clink of mail and exited the room.

Zelda sent for a certain black tea that would continue to keep her awake, and that certain members of her retinue attend her in the library. She could feel the trudge in her own steps and knew how hard she was pushing herself, but there was no time to pause yet.

The two loremasters the royal family retained, and her mentor and personal servant Impa, met her in the library as she drank her tea. The academics had memories for history and legends, and the sources they learned them from, unlike any she had ever seen, and for this reason they were very valuable to her. The first was a thin, gray-bearded man from Kakariko, who'd taught and studied the history of Hyrule, as well as magic, his entire adult life. The second was a middle-aged but vivacious woman who'd been born in Castle Town but ranged far and wide as a member of an entertainer's troupe, then returned to the kingdom when she retired from the road and somehow found herself as a royal historian. Orrin and Masha were their names. Impa, too, was elderly, a small woman with white hair she kept in a bun, but wiry and much stronger than she looked, especially for her apparent age, and also had one of the shrewdest minds in the kingdom. Zelda had discovered she was good to have near at hand in almost any situation imaginable. She inhaled the invigorating vapor from her cup of tea, then set it aside to address them.

"Good morning, my friends. Once again I find myself in need of your knowledge. But first, I must have your oath that what we speak of today does not leave this room. It is of great importance to the kingdom and her people. At a later date, I will release these secrets, but until then, I must ask for your word."

Orrin the graybeard's eyebrows rose at the request, but he agreed quickly. "As always, I am at your service, Your Highness. I swear upon heart and limb that I will not willingly divulge the matters that we discuss here today." It was one of Orrin's favorite oaths, and Zelda was familiar with it. Though the academic hadn't been a singer, troubadour, and dancer as Masha had, he did like to exercise eloquence, a habit that could be infectious.

"I vow my silence on the words we share this day, on pain of shame and death," spoke Masha, mild but clear as a bell.

"Thank you, Master Orrin, Dame Masha," Zelda said. All present knew that Impa's confidence was unspoken. "I must tell you that the Four Sword was drawn the night before last, and Vaati the Wind Sorcerer released from his prison in it. He was held fast for more than an age, thanks in part to my ancestor King Regellus's spellwork. Now he is loose, and his location unknown. Bad enough—" She stopped herself, then continued, "There's plenty to worry about already without Vaati also running amok. It is my wish that he be contained once more as quickly as possible, but just as securely, if not more. To that end, I've asked you here this morning for ideas on how this can be done."

Eyes widened slightly in her attendants. "Ah!" said Orrin, Masha's hand rose to her mouth, and Impa frowned and crossed her arms across her chest.

"King Regellus's seal…" ventured the schoolmaster, "Is it completely undone? Could it be recreated?"

"I don't know for sure," replied Zelda, "I haven't had the chance to go to the Sanctuary and investigate first-hand. We can look through his notes today. I doubt that I could cast the same spell, and though I don't think his work has been completely undone, the seal _has_ been compromised."

"And would not be as strong if repaired," Orrin finished the thought.

Said Masha, "Vaati may be easier to contain if he were weakened, his own powers blunted somehow."

"I'm sure he would," the Princess said, "but the question is _how_. From what the stories tell me, his magic is now integral to his being, but there may something helpful in my sire's notes. It may be time to inspect them."

"Yes, I would dearly love the chance," said Master Orrin, stroking his beard.

"I feel we must remember," added Impa, speaking for the first time, "that Vaati is still at large."

"Madame Impa is right," agreed Masha, "We can't get ahead of ourselves. Wasn't the Wind Mage already imprisoned in the Four Sword when King Regellus added his seal? That may make a difference."

"From what I understand, yes," said Zelda. "We will not forget." She opened a small box that she'd brought with her into the library and removed the only item within, a silver key on a chain, etched with runes and set with a smooth blue stone. She took the key to a far corner of the library and placed it into a secret hole in a bookcase. The princess recited a few words in Old Hylian under her breath and turned the key. A soft _pop_ echoed through the quiet room, and she swung open a wood panel that had released on the nearby wall. From this she lifted out a small chest, closed the secret cubby, and returned to the table with the box. The key opened its lid as well, revealing a handful of scroll tubes, and a journal. "Great-Great-Grandpa Regellus's notes," the princess said, and set out the tubes.

Orrin took up one of them with something like reverence. He pulled out the stop at the end, then held it near his nose and inhaled, as if there were no finer aroma to be found than a piece of parchment that had been sealed away for a long, long time. Masha almost laughed, but restrained it, instead opening another tube to tip out the scroll. As she did so, she had to admit that the smell had its appeal.

For a couple of minutes there was no sound in the room but the opening of tubes and rustle of scrolls carefully handled. Then Orrin sighed, looking over his scroll, the final draft of the ritual and incantation Regellus had used. "He _was_ a genius. This is very complex… I see at least two components that were most likely complete innovations. But it's sublime."

Zelda asked to see the scroll. When she reviewed it, she had to agree with Orrin's assessment. A great many elements were drawn together solidly, to name a few, the bindings for the spirits, several spells that had served to restrain Vaati with force (including, she could tell, the conjuring of the hinox guardian the Links had told her about) and others to screen him in, and the enchantments that chivvied away intruders.

Masha looked up from the notes she was reviewing. "It looks like he countered Vaati's Wind with Earth. There are a lot of drafts and experiments here dealing with the element, and it looks to me like they were all meant to be the center of the seal."

Orrin looked over her shoulder at the scroll, then over Zelda's at the final version of the spell. "I see it now. Yes."

Zelda's face fell slightly. "But the Four Sword was very important. The way it tied everything to the Earth foundation… It was a big support for the Earth itself, too. Now that it's been removed—"

"The foundation has likely crumbled." Orrin cut in. He shaped with his hands as he imagined, then sighed. "We'll have to re-make it. At least most of the work is already here for us to copy."

"I'm afraid I don't think that will be possible," Impa said, looking with Masha at the scroll and pointing a finger to a scribble on it. "There was an artifact integrated, it doesn't say what, but if the princess is right then it has likely broken down with the withdrawal of the sword."

"I'll have to go there and look," Zelda said. "We'll need to find out what else might have unraveled and what's still sound. But with the foundation gone, what parts are left might not even be compatible with anything we could substitute."

"We must build from the ground up, then?" asked Orrin regretfully. Masha's expression was one of acute concentration.

"The time that will take…" sighed the princess.

"Something else might work," Masha said, excitement in her voice. "I had a thought: the Earth was ideal for countering Vaati's powers so well, but what about using Wind against him?"

"Begging your pardon, Dame Masha, but how—" began Orrin.

Masha interrupted him in a rush. "I didn't see a way either, but then I remembered something, and artifact I'd heard of once. It was used to conduct sacred songs in worship. It was a baton, a magic wand, called the Wind Waker."

Orrin clapped his hands together and said joyfully, "Ah, you _would_ think of music, Masha! Splendid. Tell us more of this baton, please, I have a good feeling about this." Zelda and Impa gave the troubadour their attention, and she began to recount the experience.

"Well, I only heard of it once, but my troupe was in the land of Holodrum as spring was coming, and…"

* * *

Hours later, the princess and the advisors she'd been conferring with exited the library. Zelda, Masha, and Orrin moved with an excited energy and Impa maintained her usual stoicism. The princess thanked them again, and they split directions, the academics heading on the way out while her mentor walked with her.

"There was quite a lot of chalk dust on the floor of your suite this morning," the small woman mentioned as if in passing, walking with her hands clasped together behind her back and eyes forward.

Zelda glanced sidelong at her. "There was much to do this morning and I didn't clean up as thoroughly as I would've liked."

"The way it looked, you had much to do last night, too."

"Yes, Madame," she said mildly.

"You seem to have plans for the rest of the day, as well."

"Yes, Madame."

Impa's head turned and she looked her charge squarely in the face, bandying about no more. "Zelda, you're exhausted. You worked a tremendous spell all through the night, you didn't sleep in your bed, and I haven't seen you pause all morning. It's showing in your face."

"That doesn't matter, Impa," the Princess said, tone drooping slightly at being found out so easily by her caretaker.

"But it _does_, Highness. You'll do your kingdom no good if you kill yourself with exhaustion, which is what will happen if you don't sleep soon after casting that spell."

"I have at least another four hours, maybe more if I can help it."

"Zelda!"

"Well I'll do my kingdom no good by sleeping!" she snapped, eyes almost seeming to sink into her skull from frustration and obstinance. The two women stopped in the middle of the empty corridor to face each other. "Don't you understand what's going on?"

"Of course I do," Impa replied, looking up into the royal, fatigued visage. "Hyrule is troubled by two powerful villains at once, and the hero has fallen victim to the Four Sword's curse. You don't know what to do, and so you're tearing yourself apart trying to do _something_."

"You're wrong. I have a plan now."

"Which you can't do anything _with_ at the moment."

"I'll do what I can. I'm going to see Link right now."

"After which you _will_ sleep, milady," Impa said, an edge in her voice. "If not on your own, I'll see to it you will." Zelda caught sight of the long, stiff needle between her mentor's fingers. She could have sworn it hadn't been there a moment ago, and she'd not seen her hands move. "You're far too tired to stop me."

The princess quailed slightly, but held on to one last defense. "Captain Barrit will be returning with people who saw Link coming back last night, and I need to bind their memories."

"_I_ will do it," Impa said fiercely. "_You_ will sleep. You are not to use the smallest cantrip until next sunrise at earliest."

Princess Zelda sighed and bowed her head. As she gave in, her face's marks of exhaustion smoothed slightly. "Very well. Will that be all, Madame Impa?"

"Yes, milady." The needle was gone, and the Sheikah's expression was placid once again. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, and if anything comes up that can't wait, I'll wake you."

"Thank you, Impa. Good day."

She separated from her mentor and continued on, leaving the main keep and crossing into its attached halls and rooms that included storage, servants' quarters, kitchens, and the small ground-level servants' dining room the split hero was occupying. Two soldiers stood guard at the hall door, the other entrances had been locked, and a trusted maid waited in a chair nearby. All three came to attention at her approach. The princess reviewed with the maid the laundry list of requests she'd received already, then all winced at the sound of a crash from within and a babble of voices. With her brow furrowed, she set her hand to the door latch, turned it, and entered the room.

* * *

**A/N:** I surprised myself with how long this chapter ended up. Then again, much had to be said as Zelda deciphered the sword's old seal and came up with a plan.

Regarding Impa: The theory I'm working under is that the Sheikah as a race are now extinct. In their place is an order that the last surviving members founded, bringing in humans and training them in their skills and magic to carry on the protection of the Royal Family. This Impa strikes a balance between the tall, strong, powerful bodyguard and Shadow Sage of _Ocarina of Time_, the tiny, frail-looking lady in _Twilight Princess_, and the bent old crone we see in the original game and _The Adventure of Link_. Judge her by her size at your own peril.

Please review, I'm anxious to hear how the tale is being received!

**Edit:** Phew! Just finished what was to be Chapter 9, and the thing is huge. I'll have to break it up into two like I did last time, but guess what that means? Yes, another double update!


	6. I have a task for you

_Vaati is free to run amuck through Hyrule and Ganon is still scheming from the Dark World, but Princess Zelda has a plan. If it works, Vaati will be re-contained and Link freed from the Four Sword's curse before the Wind Sorcerer is of any real trouble. The question is, will the four be able to pull it off?_

The quadrifurcated hero had been fed, and a large collection of equipment requested, which they'd gone through and divided. This had been several hours ago by their estimation. Midday was approaching, and they had not been called for nor brought lunch. Now each was trying to keep himself occupied. Green had started with a simple footwork drill earlier, but had quickly progressed into tumbling, then flips and handsprings. As large as the room was that the princess had asked them to stay in, space was still somewhat tight, especially for acrobatics.

"You wanna watch it?" Red said to him tersely. He was repeatedly lifting a heavy bench with a pair of water barrels balanced on each end, and the slim archer had come close to bumping into him as he blew past in a cartwheel, followed by a backflip.

"You don't need that much room," Green said to him, wiping his brow, then beginning another exhibition of agility.

The giant glared at him. He abruptly set down his weight, then dragged over a training dummy. He began circling and slugging it bare-fisted, catching its base with his foot to prevent it from toppling when it wobbled from his blows. Now he _was_ taking up more room, and interrupted a long sequence that his agile counterpart was going through. Green came to a sudden stop and folded his arms across his chest.

"You did that on purpose!" he stated. Red shrugged, and opened his mouth to reply even as he pummeled the dummy, when Purple spoke.

"You're _both_ getting on my nerves," said the small hero. For some time he'd been reading, but the books were now set aside. He sat cross-legged on a folded rug on the other long side of the room, his eyes closed and his hands laid palm-up on his knees, meditating. "I'd appreciate it if you'd do something less loud."

The large one did as he was asked, set aside the dummy and went back to his lifting. The lithe one tried a handstand, and spent some time moving around upside-down in this manner. But the blood pooling in his head made him return to his feet. He sighed, trying to think of something else he could do. He pulled his slingshot from his belt, drew back one of the tremendously hard Deku seeds he used for bullets, and loosed it at a stone on the wall he'd picked for a target. It hit square and true and fell to the floor, and he repeated the shot, easily grouping nine bullets on his mark. He began to relax his focus and pick new targets, the shooting was being so easy, and had an interesting accident when the pellet ricocheted off the surface of one stone and struck the next wall. Intrigued, he tried to repeat it, then began experimenting, picking his mark and then shooting at the other wall so that it would bounce and then strike the stone he wanted.

The burly hero frowned at this activity, but said nothing. Purple was deep in meditation. Blue was engrossed in his own doings at the opposite end of the room, but it was soon brought to his attention as an increasing number of errant pellets began zipping all over while Green practiced his new trick shot.

The lanky Link, for his part, had set up an alchemist's stills on a smaller, square table dragged in and set not far from the door, and gone to work with them. He was brewing some chemicals, mixing others, and had his focus all over his table with one substance bubbling here, another steaming into a coil, and three others he was combining in different proportions. Suddenly, one beaker shattered, spilling its contents onto the table, and his focus was jerked up to what had caused it: Green. Another seed whizzed near his setup, and he cried out.

"Hey! Knock that off! You're going to break something else!"

"Why are you messing with that stuff anyway?" Green asked him, ignoring his request, fitting another pellet to the band, and shooting in a direction he thought wouldn't bother Blue.

"I had an idea I wanted to try, you're not listening to me, and why are _you_ using that thing inside?"

"I can't use the bow, I'm trying out my own idea, and I'm not going to break anything else."

"Oh, that smells _foul_," said Red, face screwing up slightly. The lurid chemical in the broken glass was bubbling and hissing on the wood surface of the table, giving off a bad stink in black fumes as it dissolved the wood. Green glanced quizzically at him, he was actually closer to the spill and could hardly smell a thing.

"Talk to the knucklehead!" shouted Blue, as he carefully mixed two more substances and dribbled the combined fluid onto the wood as it was eaten. Whatever reaction had started seemed to retard, because the hissing lessened quite a bit. "And if he doesn't stop with the slingshot he might break something _really_ dangerous."

"Who's a knucklehead!" said Green. "I'm not the one playing with dangerous potions in the first place!"

"I'd come over there if I didn't have to watch all this stuff," he retorted.

"You and what army, beanpole?"

Purple broke his silence. "I guess it really is too much to ask for a little peace and quiet." He glared at the pair arguing from opposite corners of the room.

"Wait your turn, Shorty, I'm not done chewing him out yet. Green, you obviously have _no_ idea how important this could be—"

"Excuse me!" Purple raised his voice the highest it had been yet since the split. "_I_ might be able to hit a breakthrough if it weren't for the yammering going on in here."

"Looks more like you're sitting there like a lump," observed Green. "I guess you guys haven't thought how _this_ could be more useful than trying to blow us all up—"

"I didn't say it wouldn't be necessarily useful!" Blue cut in again. "But if you don't stop you're gonna break something else, and it won't be good."

"I _said_ I'm not gonna break anything else! Look." The lithe Link drew back another seed and shot it at what he meant to be a random direction that wouldn't cause any harm, but the pellet ricocheted and hit Red directly in the forehead.

"_Owww_!" The large Link dropped his weighted bench with a thunderous crash as his hand went to the impact. The shooter winced, and the giant turned in his direction, one hand rubbing at the welt. "Green, I am gonna feed that thing to you!"

"Sorry, it was an accident!"

"_This_ is what I'm talking about!" said Blue, throwing his hands up.

"Shut it," Green snapped at him, then tried to placate Red as he advanced on him. "Red, easy, I didn't mean to!"

"You're all idiots," stated Purple.

"I will—"

A new voice rang through the room furiously. "_What do you think you're doing?!_" it demanded. They spun to see Princess Zelda standing inside the threshold, incandescent with anger. All was still in the room as she surveyed it, and them.

The dining room was a disaster, between their four impromptu bedrolls, the long table bearing detritus from their meal, and their large store of gear and the other objects they'd requested through the maid, from the training dummy to the alchemy paraphernalia to books to the pair of rain barrels. An unpleasant smell hung in the air, and the high windows remained closed at her request to keep their voices from the outside.

They'd made some slight changes to their clothing, she noticed. The large red one had done away with the close-fitting, long-sleeved undershirt and completely cut off his tunic's sleeves and collar. He'd re-laced the tunic's front slit and vents with leather bootlaces. All served to display the large muscles of his arms and neck, to emphasize his bulk. The lean and agile green one's tunic was more fitted, sleeker, and he'd changed his gauntlets. On his left hand he wore a bowman's shooting glove, which protected the index, middle, and ring fingers when drawing a bow and left the other two digits bare. The right bracer was slimmed down to serve merely as an arm guard, shielding his forearm from the slap of the bowstring. Tall, thin, and blue mainly looked wrinkled and rumpled, but he wore a pair of goggles pushed up on his forehead and thick, clumsy-looking blacksmith's gloves where he stood at his alchemist's set. The unnerving boy in purple's gauntlets were gone and his hands were bare, his undershirt and leggings were loose for comfort and ease of movement instead of fitted, and the tunic and hat hung neat on him. Zelda took a breath to calm herself and turned on them again.

"What do you think you're doing?" the princess repeated, less shrill, but still very angry, looking from one to the next to the next to the other. "Have you lost your minds? Look at this place! The kingdom is going to pieces, and I'm—" she stopped herself for a moment, took another breath, then resumed. "I'd expected far better of you. This is foolish. You're fighting like children—even about to physically fight—while Hyrule faces mortal danger." None of them could meet her sky-blue gaze and stared at the floor or their hands.

A shamed, uncomfortable silence filled the room for several seconds. Blue was the first to make a move, snuffing the burners under his glassware and turning to face her, but still avoiding eye contact. "I'm… very sorry, Your Highness."

"As am I," said Purple, getting to his feet from his sitting position. "You're right, this is foolish."

Red had dropped his hands to his sides. "I'm sorry too, Princess."

"This won't happen again," added Green.

Zelda surveyed them again. Her voice was once more calm and even when she said, "I'd like your promises on that." They glanced at each other. Neither they nor she had forgotten the promise she'd given before their division. "For the sake of the kingdom, I'd like your promises that there will be no more shameful behavior like this. Hyrule can't afford infighting at a time like this."

One by one they agreed, meeting her eye finally as they gave a promise that might be much harder to keep than the one they'd extracted from her.

She may have known it, if the returning graciousness in her words was any indication. "Thank you."

Silence reigned once more for a moment. In it, Blue and Purple, closest to her at the door, began to see the signs of exhaustion she bore. But before they could comment, Green cleared his throat and spoke.

"What brings you here, Your Highness? How can we help you?" There was an eagerness in his tone, and something clicked in Zelda's mind as she compared the state of the room to the cage a wild, anxious animal had been placed in.

"I have a task for you," she replied, and could not mistake the relief and sudden energy that came over all of them. "It should help re-contain Vaati and return you to your proper state."

"What is it?" asked Red, rounding the table and coming towards her to listen. The rest of them moved closer as well.

"I've learned of an item called the Wind Waker. It's a magic baton that seems to allow the user control of the wind. We believe it could be used on Vaati to limit his powers of wind and keep him sealed, hopefully forever this time." The Links were smiling at each other at this news.

"Where is it?" Blue wanted to know.

Her head inclined slightly. "I'm afraid we don't know, but we may be able to find out. That's the mission I'm here to give you today.

"You know of the Sheikah Gossip Stones. They are hardly seen these days, and even then rarely recognized for what they are, but they have been around for a long, long time, and seen much. One story tells of a Sheikah charged with rescuing a young Prince of Hyrule, who was kidnapped and spirited away with hardly a trace. Even with all his skill, he couldn't find a trail or clue. The guardian began to search for him, and asked Gossip Stones if they had seen the boy and his captors. Only one had, and the more he asked others, the more they said, 'Ask Old Stone Eye.' When he asked who this was, they told him it was the original and oldest of the stones, who held many secrets, and knew all that the stones had seen. They led him to Stone Eye, and when he asked his question, it pointed him to a cave in the mountains. He found the kidnappers there, and was able to vanquish them and return the prince safely here."

"So this Stone Eye may know where we can find the baton?" Green asked. "Where do we find him?"

"Impa tells me he's in the Sheikah catacomb near Kakariko. He's our best chance of finding the Wind Waker. You must enter it and seek him out."

Their heads were nodding. "When do we leave?" Red asked.

"Immediately," she replied. This took them aback or made them pause to think for an instant, but they exchanged glances, then nodded to her.

"I'll get my stuff together," said Blue as he pulled off his gloves, did some organization of the alchemist's kit, then went to the selection of gear he'd claimed. The others began to separate as well, but the shooter paused all with a question.

"Princess… Is there anything else on Ganon? Have you seen any activity?"

She didn't reply for a few seconds, instead staring down slightly and choosing her words. "No, I haven't. From now on, we'll have to rely on the Knights' reports coming in the usual way. I can't scry anymore."

"What? Why?" asked Red. "Did something happen?"

"No, no. You remember telling me how you felt him looking in on you on the way back?"

They did. During the return trip, they had somehow sensed Ganon's presence as they had when he taunted them before the splitting. He hadn't spoken, but it was as if he was checking on their progress while they traveled. They'd told the princess about it, and his jeering previous to pulling the sword, when they reported in last night. She continued her explanation.

"I fixed that. He won't be able to look into this world at will, and I may have blocked his voice, too."

The Links had two different reactions at the same time: from the taller ones was an exclamation of "That's great!," and from the smallest, "How did you _do_ that?"

She corrected them, however. "It's not entirely great, I'm afraid. I conjured a sort of psychic storm that's covering the kingdom. It blocks his sight, but it blocks mine, too, and my telepathy—all telepathy, in fact. And the sensitive may have disturbing dreams. But I think this is preferable to Ganon being able to see and speak anywhere."

This was sobering. The powers of Zelda's mind had been very valuable already for pinning down Ganon's strongholds and relaying information and orders to the Hylian Knights while they were in the field. Things would have to move slowly now, but at least they still held a relative advantage over the King of Evil.

Zelda hurried on with the update. "We're still searching for his labyrinth. When we know more, we'll decide what to do. But for now, just concern yourselves with finding the Wind Waker and Vaati. I'd like to see him back where he belongs before he can cause any real trouble." She looked them over once more. "Make ready. There's an escape passage I want you to use; there's no need to upset the people by letting them see you like this."

She exited the room, and twenty minutes later, each hero had packed the things he wanted to bring on this quest and some provisions. The princess escorted them through the castle to the secret exit's mouth, hidden in a disused pantry. The corridors were cleared of people as they moved.

"You'll find the catacomb east-northeast of Kakariko. This passage will be left open for you. When you return, Green, come looking for Impa or myself, and we'll get you all back to your room. Good luck."

They bade her farewell, and with the way lit by the oil lantern Blue carried, the four Links vanished down the narrow egress and left Hyrule Castle. They emerged in the stone ruins of an old farmhouse with the sun starting on the way down from its zenith, and began the trek towards Kakariko Town.

Their selection of equipment was expanded and refined. Each bore the Four Sword sheathed over his left shoulder, and a steel shield standard-issue for Hyrulean soldiers. As each shield was roughly the same size, they didn't necessarily match their bearer, and made a funny spectacle as they rode slung across four backs of various sizes all facing the same direction in a line. Beyond these two items, however, their loads varied considerably.

Place of pride for Green went to their compact but powerful recurve bow and large, full quiver he bore, sitting along his scabbard. The favored weapon was strung and had been tended to carefully, arrows selected with a critical eye. He'd also brought along the slingshot he'd been playing with to ultimately disastrous effect earlier, and it rode tucked in his belt alongside the bullet pouch. At the small of his back he carried the hookshot, which occasionally suffered a covetous look from Blue.

Red still bore the Biggoron's Sword across his back. The scabbard stood more vertically than the Four Sword's in order to keep the sheathed point from catching on things (and his height kept it from dragging on the ground), but it could pivot slightly when he drew it to make getting the blade clear easier. The Hylian Maul he carried at his waist and kept near at hand. Also across his back was the shovel he'd taken up, remarking that with his strength he was the best one for digging, and besides it might make a good back-up weapon.

A good question to ask Blue would have been about what he _didn't_ carry, for he had gone all-out with miscellaneous gear. The first items he'd claimed had been the bombs and boomerang once again, but after that he seemed to have forsaken discernment for a ready-for-anything mentality. Bottled potions of various types were his to carry, along with the pouch of Deku nuts, a toolkit on his waist, the lantern, a folding grappling hook and rope that he had disassembled and was tinkering with as he walked, a few coils of plain rope, and a small collapsible scaffold, in addition to a collection of nails, screws, springs, pegs, cogs, gears, cotter pins, and rivets. He still wore the goggles on his forehead. Their clay ocarina was also stored in his bag. He was able to tote this veritable hoard by virtue of the Power Bracelet he wore on his left wrist, which increased his ability to lift, carry, and throw without strain.

Purple actually carried a decent selection of items himself. Kept closest on his waist were the fire rod and ice rod, but two staves also rode over his right shoulder in a simple canvas scabbard he'd cobbled together for them: the Cane of Bryna and the Cane of Somaria. Just in case he found it handy, he also had a pouch containing a glittering powder with strong but unpredictable magic properties.

There was no conversation starting out, and they moved in a single-file line, Green, Red, Blue, Purple. Discomfort still hung over them after the near fight and the chastisement from Princess Zelda, and spare words were all they cared to share. Over an hour passed like this, and nothing was serving to break the ice. Blue finished tinkering with the grappling hook and stowed it in his bag, then looked at his taciturn companions. If talk wasn't helping them get along any better, maybe something else would, he considered as he dug out the ocarina.

The sun had been hiding behind a thick, lazily-moving cloud for some time, but as the lanky tinker watched it started to emerge. He wetted his lips and raised the mouthpiece to them. As the sun finally passed the cloud, he greeted it with high, lilting notes that imitated lark song. Their heads turned to look at him, and expressions softened slightly. He grinned to himself and finished the bit with a flourish. He began to play a jig, then to kick up his heels as he danced to it.

"Careful, you're going to fall over doing that with that pack," said Red as he cracked a smile.

"You play something, then," the thin one said, and offered him the instrument with a look of encouragement.

Red chewed the inside of his cheek in thought as his large hand reached back and accepted the clay woodwind. "Got it," he said, and brought the ocarina up to his mouth. He began to play the melody to an upbeat march, tromping in time to it. Blue matched his pace, exaggerating the lift of his knees and the swing of his arms across his chest as he stepped.

He finished the song, and Green looked back. "I think I'd like a go." His song was an improvisation, slow, flowing, and somewhat random until he found a phrase he liked as a refrain. It was nothing to march to, but nicely done.

When he was done, he raised the instrument towards the smallest hero bringing up the rear. "Your turn, Purple."

"No, no thanks," he said, shaking his head and holding up a forestalling hand.

"Oh, c'mon!" said Blue. The violet one only shook his head again.

Red held out his hand for the ocarina. "All right then, I've got another one." He played a light ballad. Blue began to dance again, and Purple dropped back to give him room. He cracked a grin at the sight of him twisting, long limbs swinging. When the large Link finished his song, he held out the instrument to Purple once more.

"Oh, all right." The short hero accepted the ocarina and raised it to his lips. He was silent in thought for a moment, then began. The song that emanated from the clay instrument was soft and slow, sad. Its sound made their pace drop slightly. They recognized the tune from a traveler's song as he spoke of homesickness and missing his lass.

Its last note completed the session, and Blue stowed the ocarina in his bag once more. They continued towards their destination. There still wasn't much conversation between them, but the tension from the day had been reduced, and the silence was more comfortable.

Afternoon was underway when the four of them skirted Kakariko and walked on a few leagues, finally reaching the Sheikah catacomb that purportedly held Stone Eye. When they crested a saddle and looked down at the grassy hollow that held it, they saw that it could have been described as a burial mound, too, for an artificial, raised contour, almost unrecognizable for what it was, twisted and twined across the ground. It was tall and wide, and its convolutions filled the hollow.

Before them was the tomb's entrance, a worn stone wall breaking up the green coil of the mound facing them. Boulders of various size stood around it—forming a rough circle, actually, when the split hero looked closer. They approached the wall and could discern the outline of an arch, blocked with a boulder. Green drew their attention to the faint marks carved into its face. Weather had worn it drastically, but the imagination easily could fill in what was missing to see the crying Sheikah eye.

All four of them moved to one side of the large rock, and pushed. Their combined strength was great, especially with all of Red's muscle, and the boulder ground aside with a rumble. The catacomb's front door was open to their exploration.**

* * *

A/N:** And we go back underground. This one turned out pretty big, too.

I'd love to see some art of the team now that they've differentiated their outfits a little. Can't draw, myself; it's especially frustrating because I have such a visual mind.


	7. They're not happy

_Princess Zelda has extracted a promise from the Links to work together and get along. Now the split hero has been given a task: find the Wind Waker, the item that may help contain Vaati forever. Its whereabouts are unknown, but Stone Eye, the oldest and original Gossip Stone, may be able to tell them where it is. Legend has it that Stone Eye can be found in the Sheikah burial grounds near Kakariko Town, which the four have journeyed to. Now they begin their descent._

"I brought plenty of oil," Blue assured the group as they entered the quiet and dark of the mound.

"Good," said Red. "Go ahead and light us up, time to get started."

Blue struck the lantern's flint and coaxed the wick into flame. The light it emitted fell against the walls of the catacomb's entryway, on one of which the Sheikah eye was carved again. There was also chiseled script in Old Hylian, and though they couldn't take the time to translate it all properly, the words that jumped out at Blue were unsurprising—_beware_, _peace_, a word for important _respect_, _duty_.

"No promises of a horrendous wasting curse to trespassers?" Green asked with forced humor.

"This is the Sheikah we're talking about," said the giant. "If they bother to say they'll curse you, that's probably just the distraction for something a lot worse in store."

Said Blue, "Well, if they do have a curse for us, it needs to get in line. We go left? I didn't see much to the mound going the other way."

Traversing the catacomb felt a lot like walking down the belly of a giant snake at first. Its long expanse twisted and turned, sometimes gradually, sometimes sharply. All struggled to keep their sense of direction, and all failed to keep track of time, with no view of the sky, and all they were able to see in the lantern light the close, damp, stone and earth of the catacomb. Before too long they came upon another boulder blocking the way, and with an effort, rolled it aside as well.

"No proper doors," commented the archer as they paused to rest for a moment after shoving the rock.

"Worked stone and metal," Purple said tensely. "It can be disruptive."

The short mystic had been very quiet ever since they'd approached the mound—in fact, Green realized, these were the first words he'd spoken since that time.

For a few minutes they sat and drank from their waterskins, then continued on again. Around the next bend, they found their first corpse. The skeleton was laid on a simple stone shelf cut back in the catacomb's wall at hip-height. His shroud and burial clothes were mere scraps of deteriorating fabric, but more lasting were the words and symbols carved into the stone stab at the back of his sconce. The Sheikah eye was at the center, and across the top was his name. There were no dates, of birth, nor death, nor service, but deeds: _Guardian of Queen Zelda Feilana and Her Son Prince Cylios_. _Student of Torsert and Jammel. Mentor to Orven, Immessan, Tel'bris, and Rosseli_. _Needle master. Died of sickness at an honorable age_. Other glyphs were present as well, one perhaps his personal symbol, another perhaps his rank in the tribe or representing an honorific he earned in life, but the four could not tell.

They left his graveside, and several yards down the passage, they found the next, a woman. Further on another woman was laid to rest, and now they could recognize they'd been given even spacing.

Commented Blue after he'd scanned her epitaph, "They've got this whole mound, and all this empty space between bodies? I mean, no disrespect, but—"

"They never were that many, I guess," said Red.

Next they came to a great intersection of passageways, which had been a tangle of the mound's coils from the outside.

"Oh, great," the giant said. "I got turned around way back there, what about you guys?"

The lanky Link bit his lip, but Green indicated a corridor. "This way should be towards the center. It's sloping down a little, too."

"You're sure? You've kept your sense of direction?" Blue asked him, and he nodded confidently.

They started down it, and as they left the intersection behind, Purple flinched suddenly and his head snapped back over his shoulder as if at something he'd seen or heard.

"You all right?" Blue asked him, pausing and turning with his light at the sound of the breath he'd sucked in quickly.

"Yeah… Yes," he answered. "I just… I don't like it here."

Green said, "Come on, Purple, we've got no time to wuss out."

"Leave him alone," Red told him. "You can't blame him if he doesn't like it here."

The two in the lead argued for a bit. Instead of listening to them, Blue asked the small hero, "Did you see something?"

"… No."

"Hear anything?"

Purple shook his head.

"I know there could be ghosts down here, and it's dark and creepy, but… try not to let it go to your head, okay? We'll get out of here soon." He turned to the others and jiggled the lantern, making the light it cast jolt crazily on the walls. "Hey! Enough, you two, let's get moving!"

Purple gritted his teeth. Apparently they couldn't feel it, the sorrow and the anger that rippled through the catacomb. That wasn't so bad, but something had given him a bad feeling as they crossed the intersection back there that had settled firmly in his stomach. And he'd been dismissed out of hand by all of them, which were himself, making it confusing _and_ frustrating…

Despite the short hero's misgivings, they walked on, trusting Green's sense of direction to lead them deeper, through more intersections and twists. The going was still slow, and periodically they passed a Sheikah grave. They made one wrong turn that they could discern, but were able to get back on track. But when they were certain they were in the center, there was no Stone Eye, merely more coils of the mound. There was some frustration, and they received their first indicator of time's passing there when the lantern's oil burned dry. Tension hung in the cold, musty air while Blue carefully refilled it in the dark. No one would admit to the sigh of relief that came when it was lit again.

Their illumination was returned and the center of the catacombs seemed to be a dead end. Blue's suggestion was that they try the far side instead of the middle, which they did. The going was rougher, with more wrong turns and wandering. Purple was still jumpy, and though the others made no comment on the sounds of him shifting to glance over his shoulder, they began to wonder if he was right. Perhaps it was only in their minds, but they wondered if they heard things deep in the earth, here among the dead. Rational thought weakened with no view of the sky, no breath of wind, only the sense of the mound closed over them.

Once again they took a break and sat with their backs against the catacomb walls, clustered around the lantern resting on the ground. When their thirst was slaked, they resumed the trek.

It was a welcome relief to find _anything_ besides twisting corridor and the bones of a Sheikah, but what the lantern light revealed a short time after their breather was a promising find: the passage opened into a small cave, the floor sloping down deeper into the earth. At its far side was a gate—two broad, iron-bound wooden doors set into the stone, wide enough for a pair of horsemen to ride through abreast comfortably. There was no mechanical lock, but as the light fell on it, scribed and painted patterns gleamed. Blue dimmed the flame experimentally, and they found that the markings glowed with a magenta light.

"Magic seal of some sort," said Green.

"Yes…" Purple declared with his eyes half-lidded. He closed them fully and added, "It's not too strong, though." His troubled brow did not escape their notice. They glanced at each other.

"We need through there," Red reminded him.

"I know… Give me a little room and I think I can open it."

Despite his concerns, the small swordsman came to stand before the gate. He took a deep breath, released it, and closed his eyes once more. His palms turned forward, and he remained as he was, still, silent, breathing slowly, for several minutes. Then one hand rose slowly to his right shoulder, and he drew forth the Cane of Bryna. Purple spoke words under his breath as he raised its tip to the door. He touched it gently, and the item activated. Its outline, and that of its wielder, shimmered and pulsed, then subsided. A faint noise like cracking could be heard, and the doors shifted, falling away from them just an inch while the glow of their scribing dimmed.

Purple put the cane away, opened his eyes, and heaved a sigh. The other three came forward, and Red rested his hand momentarily on his shoulder. "Good job," he said. Then he stepped up to the ajar doors and pushed them open. They swung slowly but without noise. Purple followed him, then came the other two.

On the other side was the head of a broad stone stairway. It descended to the left, as if following the outer border of the catacombs and curving back under.

Over the scraping of their boots on the steps, they could almost hear a susurrus of some kind—whispers, rustlings, sighs. As they moved deeper and deeper, it became louder, and somehow clearer, but still unintelligible. The Links reached the foot of the stairs to find an archway that opened onto another passage—this one broader than the catacombs above, but still low and close. Now the noise was indelible, and hostile: incorporeal voices hissing, muttering, sighing, and groaning at them and to each other. No words could be picked out, but the tone was unmistakably unfriendly. The earth—walls, floor, and ceiling—emitted faint wisps of vapor. Mysterious glows of purple, blue, magenta, and other dark colors could be seen beyond the light the lantern cast, now fading, now returning, now oozing into another shape.

Blue's fist was tight on the light's handle. Green had assumed a combat crouch, knees bent and weight slightly forward, and Red's hand rested on the head of his hammer.

Purple spoke: "They're not happy. Keep moving."

"We mean them no harm," said Blue. "Why are the Sheikah so angry?"

"They're not the Sheikah, I don't think," his short companion replied. "I believe they're the shadow spirits that served them. Looks like they guard their bodies. Now come on, if we stay in one place too long I think they'll attack."

Red halted suddenly, and Purple ran into him. "What's that?" he asked, staring ahead. Something white and damply shiny gleamed in Blue's lamp-light as it burrowed up out of the floor. As it emerged, they could see that it was a worm, a very large, fat, grub- or maggot-like creature, the size of a cat. Its segments pulsated as it crawled in their direction and let off a high, barely audible scream or squeak of some sort, its maw opening to display rows of inward-pointing needle teeth.

"_Gross_," said Green. It moved with hunger and dangerous intent, and the archer unslung his bow. In an instant he fitted a shaft to the string, pulled it back, and let it fly. The arrow pierced the worm in the head and it convulsed, arching back, then rolling onto its side to curl and uncurl weakly. Dark, eggplant-purple ichor oozed thickly from the wound, then the creature's color went ashen and it puffed out with smoke and noise.

"There's probably more where he came from," Purple said darkly. "Let's go."

The four pressed on despite the whispers, lights, fog, and bugs. Green stopped wasting arrows after the first three, switching the bow for his slingshot, Blue knocked them back with the boomerang, and Red splattered them with his hammer when they got too close (he looked a mess at first, but their blood evaporated without a trace after the monsters themselves died), but they preferred to simply avoid them. All could sense the malice that pulsed through the mound, especially now that it was stirred up with the opening of the gate.

A presence followed them at a distance, moving with the murmurs and passing among the mysterious glows.

The hero's passage through the lower level was much more harrowing and felt crowded despite the wider, straight corridor they moved down. They saw no Sheikah laid to rest upon shelves as above, but there were many, many sconces, cut more roughly, and arranged with empty wooden and clay bowls, cups, pots, and other vessels and what looked like miscellaneous household objects. Some were tremendously cluttered. The facets of rupees reflected the lantern light back at them in certain of the nooks, fit in with the other items. These were offerings to the spirits, Purple guessed, money and things and vessels that had been left with food and drink for them.

When the lantern ran out a second time, it was a very tense minute while the hisses intensified in the dark as Blue refilled the oil.

How long the voices swirled around them, they couldn't say. Their passageway took a few bends, diverging around something—bordering it, they realized after the second turn. They stayed to this main route, only seeing more offering sconces down the small, narrow halls that branched off, and it soon led them back to the center.

This second cave was slightly larger than the earlier one, that had led to the staircase down. It was also already illuminated, they saw as they approached it. Glowing lichen clung to one wall and shed just a little light, but torches and braziers, burning with eldritch-looking flames of cobalt, were set along the cavern's perimeter. It, too, held a gate, much like the one above, but this one was guarded.

A figure knelt before the doorway, and the Links had a momentary flashback to the hinox back in the sword. This giant was as tall as the door, and broad, but rounder than the warden had been, and definitely made of light gray stone and clay—it was carved and sculpted into its humanoid shape. Before their eyes, its head rose to look at them. Its face seemed a simple mask, a wide, straight slit of a mouth and two pierced eyes, in each of which burned a magenta light.

"_You will go no further_," were the words that came from it, voice ethereal despite its owner's girth and strength. Red's gaze narrowed, and his hand came to rest on his hammer.

"Please," said Blue, "We must ask a question of Stone Eye."

"We're here on orders from Princess Zelda of Hyrule," Green added, thinking that dropping the royal family's name might be helpful here.

"_You have not prayed, you have not fasted_," the guardian replied. "_You brim with conflict and are filled with disquiet. You are in no fit shape to enter the Eye's holy sanctuary, no matter your business. Purify yourself, and I may let you pass, but not before_."

Began Red, "And how are we supposed—"

He was cut off as Purple screamed and tore from the room suddenly.

"Hey!" Blue shouted. "What—Purple!"

There passed a stunned second. "Come on!" said Red, "We need to get after him, he can't be out there alone!" He pushed at Blue, who carried their light.

"We'll be back!" Green called to the stone figure, who did not reply as they left the cave.

"What happened to him?" Blue asked as he clattered out into the passage. "Did you see?"

"_No_, I was looking at the big rock thing," answered Red as he looked left and right. "Where'd he go? Can you hear him?"

* * *

Purple's breath came raggedly as he ran headlong down the corridor, _something_ pursuing him. A horrible face had filled his vision suddenly and shrieked at him in a voice it felt like he'd been hearing in the back of his mind ever since they'd entered the catacombs. His nerves were already shot, with the hostile energy that had only gotten stronger as they descended, his disagreeable companions, the dark closing in on them, and the ceaseless whispers and hisses. Then that _thing_ was in his face after a second of relative silence, looking capable and eager to do horrible things to him. 

He'd _known_ it was stupid to be down here, known it all along. Instinct had taken over, and he'd fled by the fastest means he could see. But as the reflex finished firing, his error seeped rapidly into him. He'd left the light, and the spirits were _much_ louder now... and if he wasn't much mistaken, they were also laughing.

The eldritch glows and mists gave scant illumination. They were enough to keep him from running into the walls, but if he wasn't careful he was going to—

The toe of his boot caught something and he pitched forward. He was rattled, and in a clearer frame of mind he could have turned the fall into a tumble, but as it was he twisted in mid-air and landed on his side and hip, corkscrewing slightly to disperse _some_ of the fall's force.

The pain could have been much worse, and as he lay there he forced himself to calm a bit, inhaling, then exhaling twice as long. He could see the lights that had been there a moment ago had faded out, discern that the chittering of the spirits was stilled. It was dark, and quiet, and he couldn't feel—

No, it was back. The presence that had stalked him was here again, he felt it. His sense of touch, too, picked up something. It was like an icy breath trailed up his back, along with the sound of a relishing sigh. He twisted around onto his seat, scrambling away, breath coming shallow and ragged again.

The contorted face was back, in an orange aura that almost stung his eyes after the unnerving darkness and silence a moment before. It floated steadily up to him, then lunged forward with another malicious shriek, passing directly into his face and chest. Purple shivered and cried out, his body thrashing as his consciousness flailed, force of will seeking a foothold against the invader.

The human fought the ghost, and he had a tenacious mind, but he couldn't stay grounded. If he'd been able to keep his cool, the shade probably couldn't have succeeded. They struggled, but he was soon stuffed down and pinned solidly. The ghost had too much hate, too important a task, to lose this battle to such a small lump of flesh.

Purple's body stilled, then got back to its feet and dusted itself off slowly. Its joints moved slowly, testing them out, and a wicked smile came across the face. Then a shout reached its ears. It glanced down the corridor, then sped off, fleeing through the dark and the small passages that angled away from the main.

* * *

The other three hustled along as best they could, the lantern bobbing and jerking in Blue's hand. 

"You'd think these spirits wouldn't mind a little excitement every now and then," Green said sardonically. "I mean, _I'd_ get bored down here with nothing going on; visitors would be a nice change of pace."

"Shut it," the thin one barked at him. "Are you _trying_ to make things worse?"

"Why is there no dust? I can't find any tracks," the archer complained, dropping his attempt at humor.

"_Purple!_" Red called into the dark. "_Where are you?!_"

"Little guy can't have gotten _too_ far," the lanky Link said with a frown.

"He went this way, I'm sure I saw him go to the right," was the shooter's assurance.

Blue replied, "But did he stay to the big hall, or did he turn down one of those… Blast, there's a lot of them." His light had revealed more of the offshoot passages filled with offering nooks. "Oh, no…"

Red nudged past them and moved slowly down the corridor, looking down the branches, paying no mind to the incessant susurrus that filled the close air, even ignoring a grub that dug out and made for his ankle until it finally came too close and he booted it away, down the passage. Suddenly he sniffed, and turned to a branch. "This way!" he said, and started down it quickly.

The other two glanced at each other before following him as he ran. "Don't tell me you smell him," said Blue.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," the giant replied. "I don't know how, but I do. This is the way he went. Worm," he added as a warning, passing over the molehill it formed as it dug out. Blue vaulted it. Green was a couple of steps behind. To avoid its ugly mouth, his feet went to the wall and he ran across its face for a few feet, as if the upright surface was temporarily the floor. The scraping of his boots made Blue glance back, and the archer himself looked over his shoulder at the wall he'd dashed along, not quite believing what he'd just done, either. But they couldn't pause, Red was leaving them behind with a burst of speed that belied his size.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm awfully vicious with these cliffhangers… 

It's been said before, and I'll say it again: dungeons are tough to write.

So who was creeped out by this one? Did the atmosphere come out right? Reviews, if you're agreeable!

Also, a question for those who may have done _Wind Waker_ fics: did you have a resource on sailing? I'd like to do a little research on things nautical, and if you know a good source of information, please drop me a review or a PM!


	8. You stand in my sanctuary

_Green, Red, Blue, and Purple have entered the Sheikah catacomb, hoping Stone Eye at its center will tell them how they can find the Wind Waker baton to re-imprison Vaati. The shadow spirits that served the Sheikah in life and now guard their bones are hostile to the living intruders, but have not attacked them. However, one restless shade has carried his disquiet and thirst for vengeance to the grave and beyond, and takes a particular interest in the split hero. It follows them, separates Purple from the group, possesses him, and runs off with his body, leaving the others to chase after._

"Arton! Brother! Awaken!" said Purple's mouth, with a voice that wasn't Purple's, standing before a graveside. There _were_ shelves this deep in the mound, but the Links hadn't yet come to them. They stood in a wider galley, more like a proper crypt, with bones laid much closer together. Each nook was set end to end to end. Glows were intense here, and long-lasting, filling the space with light equivalent to a candle. The ghost wearing the short mystic's skin was before one such nook, its epitaph blank except for the Sheikah eye and the deceased's symbol. "Our revenge is at hand!"

"_What do you speak of, Betlis?_" came a soughing voice.

"Look at me! I have _flesh_, I have bone, I have substance! We can go to _their_ graves… And once we're done, who knows how long until they'll rest peacefully! Who now attends this ground, with all these bones? Who would check on them?"

"_I am weary, my brother. Do what you will, but the form you wear does me no good_."

"They are the _reason_ we can't rest, Arton!" Purple's hands clenched and his body twisted. "They deserve no less! Were we not unjustly punished?"

"_Perhaps, brother, but what good will it do? Leave me be, I want to forget_."

"Coward! Ingrate!" the ghost screamed through the hero's throat. "Is this how you thank me? How many times did I come to your aid, defend you? I come asking your help for one small task, to benefit us both, and you're too tired to help me? And whose mistake was it that let them catch us? Will you ignore the chance for reparation?"

"_No, Betlis, no, don't be that way—_"

"I'm ashamed that such a spineless villain shares my blood! Shamed past death!"

"_Betlis, brother, please, you know I didn't mean to, I'm sorry I'm such a useless—_"

"Then prove it! Prove to me, just once, that you aren't a good-for-nothing lump not even fit to wipe my boots! Flesh comes, Arton," he said, with an orange gleam lighting in his eye, ear turning at the sound of someone approaching. "It is strong, mighty, even. Didn't you always want to be strong, Arton? Didn't you always hate being slow and weak?"

"_Yes, Betlis, you know I did, but I was—_"

"Purple!" came a booming voice. Red emerged from the passage, well ahead of the light borne by Blue. "There you are! What's wrong? Why'd you—?" he stopped short as his small counterpart turned a warped visage and glowing orange eyes on him.

A thin, mysterious voice reached his startled ears. "_Oh, yes, he's magnificent… Thank you, Betlis!_"

Red backed up warily. "Purple? What's—"

The child only grinned triumphantly, and said in a strange voice, "Make your brother proud." The second ghost struck, and struggled with Red. The giant was taken off-guard and dropped to his knees as the shade entered and finally dominated his body. "Yes!" Arton cried, smiling widely at Betlis as he settled into Red's form. "He feels wonderful, brother! What shall we do now? Find Jammel and Katlen's graves and toss their bones about?"

"First we have to deal with their companions, they were coming right behind him, but after, yes. You should be strong enough to take them yourself, but I'll help. Come here, wait for them to arrive."

Red and Purple stood together, watching the light and the two figures within it get closer and closer. A grin crossed the short one's face as he thought of wreaking his vengeance on the cousins who'd brought about his downfall. Perhaps they could even take these bodies up, and experience the world of the living once more without the constraints and disgrace they'd faced before! These mortals had only to arrive and be dealt with, and then—

He stopped as the figures in blue and green finally arrived, his expression dropping slightly. There was something wrong. Arton glanced down at him, unsure, but fearing to speak out of turn and ruin the planned trap. They were walking instead of running as before, striding evenly. And—their eyes! The ghost balled Purple's hands into fists and screamed, "You!"

The expressions of Green and Blue were determined and similar, and their eyes glowed two close shades of dark blue. A voice that had once belonged to a female came from Blue's throat, and said, "Death hasn't changed you, Betlis. You still bring disgrace to the tribe?"

"I will have my vengeance, Katlen!" he screamed in reply, making Red wince. "It's thanks to _you two_ I'm even still here!"

"Perhaps," replied Green with Jammel's voice, "but you have mainly yourself to blame. Give this up. You _never_ had the skills to take either of us."

"Ah, but have you seen Arton?" he asked, sweeping a hand to display the giant at his shoulder.

"Brother," he whispered, "I'm not sure—"

"Silence!" the short one snapped back at him.

Blue's eyes narrowed. "We give you one last chance, Outcasts. Back down before your torment is made any worse."

In reply, Purple yanked out the Four Sword, shortly followed by the other three. "I'll _show_ you torment!" he shrieked over the sound of blades being uncased.

Suddenly it felt very crowded inside his head. There was his brother's presence jammed up against him, and the two cousins, too. He couldn't think, he couldn't move, he didn't know how this had happened, and suddenly there was a boiling anger that shook him and pressed him painfully.

"_Get out of my HEAD!_"

Betlis was sent spinning, confused, bodiless, then in sudden pain.

Purple was enraged beyond words. He slashed with the sword at the incorporeal orange form that had invaded him and was vaguely aware of Red doing the same. Blue and Green had their blades raised, but the presences that had possessed them were already flown. Betlis screamed as the sword's edge passed through his substance and writhed, trying to float away. As he left Purple's reach, he ripped the fire rod from his belt with his free hand and turned it on the ghost. It seemed he could feel the magic, for he shrieked louder as the cone of flame engulfed him, and he sped away, falling through the wall, shedding orange scraps and motes of himself that faded momentarily.

He struggled to catch his breath, chest heaving, teeth gritted, arms dropping. There was an unpleasant warped feeling in his head, and he groaned, sheathing his blade so he could rub his skull.

The hero in the shape of a child felt Red's large hand on his shoulder and could hear him and the others putting up their weapons. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah…" he replied. "Yeah. I'm okay." His head felt better already. "What about you guys?"

"Fine," Red answered. "You're sure you're okay? _I_ sure didn't like being possessed."

He nodded at him, then rubbed his head again as he turned to take in his companions. Blue was massaging his temples and making the goggles on his forehead wobble up and down, Green pressing the heel of his hand above one eyebrow. "What was it the statue said?" he asked. "I was distracted, but wasn't it something about us not being fit to pass? Too much conflict?"

"Basically, yeah," the archer replied.

"I think I have an idea."

* * *

"We were able to push the ghosts out when the sword was drawn," Purple reminded them. They were making their way back to the cave that held the second gate. They'd seen no worms, and the voices of the spirits were oddly subdued. "Blue, back me up on this, but I don't think two ghosts can possess a host at the same time."

"That would make sense," the tall one said. "I mean, they've already got the soul that _belongs_ there to deal with. Good hypothesis, but what makes you say that?"

"When my ghost was losing his grip, he felt very crowded. Is that how yours felt?"

"I can't say I was really in tune with the guy," replied Green. "But I guess he wasn't comfortable. Lucky for us, but what's it got to do with getting past the rock thing?"

"It has to do with _us_," Purple clarified. "You guys looked like you had a headache when we put the sword away. I did, too."

"_Temporarily_," said Red. "It went away quickly. You're still going somewhere with this?"

"Wait, wait," said Blue. "If that was the case, then… Oh! I think that makes sense! Hold on a second." He paused in his walking to cross his eyes, bewildering the slim and strong Links.

Purple smiled. "I think he's catching on."

"Well then maybe the Professor would care to share his insight?" Green asked with an eyebrow crooked.

"When we drew the sword, it was like four ghosts were trying to occupy one body all of a sudden," he explained obligingly, letting his eyes uncross. "We're still four bodies, but the sword unified our minds! That's why they felt so crowded! And that must be why we all had the headache!"

Purple led him on. "So if our minds are unified—"

His skinny counterpart didn't disappoint him with his exuberance. "No conflict! And the rock thing will let us pass!"

"All right, then," Green smiled. "Let's go talk to the rock, so we can talk to another rock."

The gray guardian seemed not to have moved in their absence. Its head was still raised slightly from looking up at them, and it made no comment as they re-entered its cave.

"All right," said Purple, "draw the sword." The shards sang as they left their scabbards, but the figure remained unmoving. The warped sensation began to emerge in their heads. "Okay," the mystic went on, "we still need to purify… Meditate with me. Maybe that will work."

He sat cross-legged with one hand gripping the sword and its flat resting across his knees. They formed a circle around him and sat, to his left, Green, then Red, then Blue, imitating his style of seating.

"Close your eyes," he said, "and take in a deep breath. Let your stomach relax, let the air fall in, and fill you… Then let it out, slowly." Their breathing soon fell into synchronization, deep, even, and slow, the only sound that could be heard in the room.

Said Green, softly, not disturbing the quiet: "Mind your posture. Let your buttocks be the foundation you rest on, your back comfortable and straight. Shoulders are back slightly, opening your chest, your heart, your center, so more breath can fill you."

Next spoke Red. "And be actively still. Find the strength and the energy you have in stillness… Body, and mind…"

Finally Blue shared something. "And when you feel your mind wander… Acknowledge that it's been gone, feel that, it happens… But bring it back to here, to now…"

They stayed that way for several minutes, still, breathing, present, but soon, the 'warped' feeling intensified, they began to develop a sensation almost like spinning in their heads, or the center of balance oscillating back and forth very rapidly, until…

Their eyes snapped open all at once and their forms were temporarily consumed by a white flare of light. Then it was gone, and they were changed.

Every eye was deep blue, every form the same, in height, and shape. They looked as they had before dividing. The pieces of the Four Sword matched as well. Their breaths still came together and they glanced around their small circle, eyes moving at the same time as they took theirself in. Each saw and heard what the others did, thoughts came together, and the feeling in the mind of being bent in the middle remained.

Suddenly the guardian spoke: "_That will do. You may enter, and ask Stone Eye your question._" Its joints rumbled as it got to its feet and stepped heavily back from the door. They rose simultaneously and moved forward, four abreast, as the stone being set its hand against the doors and pushed them open.

This space's perimeter, too, was hung with the torches of blue fire. The stone was oblong and upright, huge, filling the round cave. Its surface was rough and even jagged in some places. On a normal rock this size and age, one would see a polish and smoothness wrought by the wind and other forces of weather. It was engraved with the outline of the Sheikah eye, and many other glyphs as well, but the actual eye itself seemed a discoloration of the stone, several shades lighter in gray than the rest of the rock. Its iris and pupil were lighter still, milky-white, creating the impression of an unseeing cataract.

It did not move, but it spoke in a deep, slow, rumble. "_Welcome, Hero. I am Stone Eye, and you stand in my sanctuary. I have heard of your deeds, and am pleased to meet you. How may I be of service?_"

They spoke in one voice: "Greetings, Stone Eye. We seek the item known as the Wind Waker. Can you tell us where it is?"

The great, blind rock was silent for a moment as if in reminiscence. "_More than a thousand years ago, in the place you know as Hyrule Field, one of my children stood upon a hill. For many decades, he would watch the peoples gather once a year, upon the first dawn of spring. They would all pray for a good planting. They would feast for healthy herds and gentle birthings. They would dance for good rains. Then they would sing, and play flutes and horns in sacred songs. A shaman led them, directing rhythm and loudness with the motions of his hands, and the very baton you seek. They would make this music as the shaman conducted them for the sake of good winds, fair weather, and the great renewal of the world once more as winter gave way to spring. And the land would thrive. This, the stone upon the hill in Hyrule Field beheld._

"_My other children beheld the ritual elsewhere. It was seen in other lands, some far from Hyrule, but there was still prayer, and dance, and feasting, and songs conducted by a baton. My children are not as plentiful as they once were, but just this spring, one beheld its observance as it has for two hundred years in the land of Holodrum._"

The old rock paused again before continuing. "_When the stone upon the hill in Hyrule Field no longer stood, the stone near the moat of Hyrule Castle saw the Wind Waker. It was carried once a year down to the field in a small white box, then brought back after the ritual had been observed. But one day, hundreds of years ago, it saw the small white box that had always held the Wind Waker on a day that was _not_ the first of spring. It saw a group of people of the Wind Tribe cross the moat, welcomed into the palace. For two days the stone within castle walls heard courtly talk, of friendship and trade, and heard the exchanging of tokens. The stone near the moat saw the group leave, happy, and one bore the small white box that had always held the Wind Waker._

"_The group of people of the Wind Tribe was next seen by the stone near a grove of trees on the banks of the river. Another stone saw them pass along the Gerudo Desert. Then the stone in the ravine near the Gerudo Desert saw them pass by towards their own lands. But a few years later, this same stone saw the small white box that had always held the Wind Waker once more. Two women of the Wind Tribe came from their own lands with it, and entered a shrine the Wind Tribe kept in the ravine. When they came out, they did not have the small white box. That was the last time my children beheld the Wind Waker, and the stone in the ravine near the Gerudo Desert still stands to this day._"

As Stone Eye told the story, the split hero had sheathed the sword, leaving their fused form and returned to their distinctive shapes—the extra input was hard to tolerate; it gave the distracting headache and was simply too much to endure for long. Now they looked at each other.

"The shrine in a ravine near the Gerudo Desert," repeated Green. "Excellent."

"Many thanks, Stone Eye," Purple said, bowing to the rock. The gesture was followed by his fellows. "And Princess Zelda thanks you as well, I know."

"Don't know what we would've done without you," added Blue.

"_You are most welcome, Hero_," it replied. "_I have enjoyed your visit. Good luck in recovering the Wind Waker, and good luck in your struggles. I know what villains you face._"

They thanked him once more, and took their leave. The guardian closed the gate behind them and resumed its position before it without a word. Outside in the catacomb, the spirits' voices were hardly audible.

It was time they were quit of this place. Red led the way out the cave with Green behind him, followed by Blue. Purple, however, paused on its threshold. He hurried to a pair of pots that sat empty against the wall, near one of the braziers. In one he placed a handful of rupees, into the other he squeezed every drop out of his waterskin, and bowed his head momentarily.

"Purple?" came Blue's voice from down the corridor. "Don't tell me we lost you again."

"No, I'm coming." The short swordsman left his offerings and went to catch up with his companions.

* * *

**A/N:** Imagine this chapter combined with the previous. That gigantic chunk of text was what I was facing when I finally typed the last of this one. Though it left a cliffhanger, I hope my breaking it up makes sense.

I enjoyed writing the story that Stone Eye told them. Guess it goes to show what a sucker I am for legends.

Thanks to everyone for the references on things nautical, I think the research went well. Chapter 11 took some time to get started, but it finally came together (it did not in fact involve the nautica; you won't see its fruits for some time).

Please review! See you next time!


	9. Your talents to good use

_A malicious ghost is overcome, and the mission to see Stone Eye is a success. The split hero has learned the location of the Wind Waker, along with an unexpected secret of the Four Sword: when all draw it, it changes them temporarily into a 'fused' form, allowing them to move in unison and linking their minds. The heroes make their way back to Hyrule Castle to plan their next move._

The sun crested Death Mountain's shoulder, its first sliver of brilliant yellow sliding almost imperceptibly into view. Its light had preceded it by some time, and there had been enough to see by for at least half an hour, but the actual crack of dawn seemed to be the official signal to the start of the day. Across Hyrule, men, women, and children rose with it. Some had been up already, such as farmers scattering feed for their cuccos, dairymaids stroking the necks and udders of cows to greet them before milking, bakers firing up their ovens, or soldiers that had been standing watch ever since the long, quiet hours after midnight. Others were awakening now, tradesmen, nobles, children, and some perhaps would not get up for an hour to come. But the day was beginning regardless, said the sun. Out on the field, amongst the old stone walls of an abandoned homestead, its rising was greeted by a high trilling on a woodwind instrument, its player sitting cross-legged on his bedroll.

"You're a poor substitute for a rooster, Blue," the voice of one of his companions groused at him.

"C'mon, hotshot," the lanky hero said with a grin to the bundled form that had spoken, "'Early to bed, early to rise…'"

"That's the thing: we weren't early to bed. Now leave me alone."

"Purple's already up." The small hero stood outside the perimeter of the ruined cottage, facing the sun and going through a stretching routine. Blue stood and adjusted his grappling hook. Its prongs rotated together with a clink, giving it some resemblance to an oversized fishing hook. He tossed it in the direction of his other companion, caught a large, red, conical hat, and pulled it to himself. The cap he threw back at its owner's sleeping head. "Come on, big guy, you, too."

Red brushed his hat off the side of his face, yawned, lifted his head, and blinked slowly. "No fire, no breakfast… You've got nerve waking me up, Blue."

"It wasn't my idea to push on this far last night; I was fine with camping closer to Kakariko. Seriously, we need to get a move on, things to do."

"All right." The giant crawled out of his bedroll, stood, stretched, and ambled over to Blue. He dropped a hand heavily onto his shoulder, and said, "But I warn you: next time you wake me up this early, there'd better be something to eat."

"Duly noted. Now, you wanna help me roll Green out of his cocoon?"

"You do and you die. I'm up, I'm up," came the archer's reply from under his blankets as he arched, flexed, and finally tossed off his covers.

Blue pulled on his boots and began bundling his own sleeping mat and blankets. "You're lucky we didn't camp near a stream; I think I could've convinced Red to help me dump you in."

"Actually," commented Red as he rubbed his face and eyes, "I probably would've thrown _you_ in first for waking me up."

"Hmm. I guess I could do with a bath."

"You could," said Green.

In short order, the split hero was ready to go. They jogged across the plain, staying well away from homesteads, returning to the ruins of the farmhouse not far from Hyrule Castle. As they entered the secret passage leading back in, Green commented on the fact that they were going into the earth again so soon after the catacombs. At the far end, he ducked off in search of Impa for an escort.

"How come he gets to show his face?" Blue asked the others as the three of them waited near the passage's inside door.

"Because he looks normal," Red answered simply.

"And we don't?"

"No, we really don't. Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"Funny. You're one to talk," the lanky one said.

"I'm serious, and I know." There was a firm and deliberate even-ness to Red's voice as he said this.

Purple broke in: "No, Blue's right, it's not really fair. I don't think it's a big deal, but it's still not fair. Green's different, too, he just doesn't look like it that much."

"And even when he gets back, we're probably going straight to that room so we don't cause a scare. I'm not looking forward to being cooped up in there," Red said, "Especially if the Professor is going to do more of his cooking."

"Brewing," Blue corrected him, "and it wasn't that bad until Green started messing around with the slingshot. But you've got a point about our little cell there…"

It was a moment before Red broke the silence. "We _are_ cursed, I guess."

"All of us," Purple added to console him.

Quiet fell over the three of them again, and it remained for several minutes until the passage door re-opened and Green's head stuck in. "Okay, we're clear."

Impa locked the passage behind them and led them back to the claustrophobically familiar dining room they'd been in before. The corridors along the way were once again deliberately and temporarily deserted of all life except the split hero and their guide. They hid their disappointment at returning there as best they could, but had been learning even before being divided that it was hard to hide anything from the princess's bodyguard and mentor. "Food will be in shortly," she said to them, "and the princess will want to come see you soon." With that she shut them in, but it was challenging to be disgruntled with the promise of breakfast, especially the way they cooked here at the castle.

The room had been tidied somewhat while they were out, but their stuff left alone. The heroes deposited their gear in their respective areas of the room and washed their hands and faces. A few minutes passed, then Red turned towards the door, sniffing the air. It opened to admit the maid who'd fetched for them yesterday, Ashley, bearing a tray. She greeted them, set it on the table, and unloaded its stack of plates and bowls.

"Good porridge, bread, boiled eggs, and some peaches," she told them, indicating the pot, loaf, and basket. "There's water in the pitchers still. Enjoy, and knock if you need anything." With that she was gone back to her post, leaving them to the victuals.

After the door closed, Green asked Red a question while he cracked and peeled an egg. "Did you smell her coming?"

"I smelled the food," Red replied as he lifted the lid off the porridge pot, inhaled its vapors, and ladled himself a measure. "Good, too."

"I don't think she was even to the door yet," Blue commented, slicing bread. "You smelled Purple last night, too."

The child raised an eyebrow at him as he rubbed the fuzz off his peach. "I thought _you_ were the one who could do with a bath?"

The lanky one flicked a pinch of bread at him in retaliation, which hit him in his wide forehead. "I mean down in the catacomb, it's how we found you. It was like he caught your scent."

Red rolled his spoonful around in his mouth, then swallowed. "So now I'm a hound?"

"Beats me, but it seems that way. We could do an experiment."

Added the archer, "You smelled the potion that got spilled yesterday, too."

"I still kinda do," said the giant, casting a glance towards the beanpole's table covered with glassware. "It's not still burning, is it?"

"Either you're imagining things or your nose is _really_ good," said Blue, picking a peach and an egg from the basket. "You've got me curious about this now. We should try something after we eat."

Between the four of them, the loaf of bread, the eggs, and the peaches were completely consumed, and all but a little of the porridge. Blue reserved this, scraping it out into a bowl. They moved the long table and benches to one side of the room, creating space in the middle. Blue asked Red to stand there with his hat pulled down over his eyes and his ears plugged, then try to follow the scent of the porridge. The sight made Green laugh, Blue moving quietly with the bowl cupped in his hands, circling and weaving away but followed unerringly by the blindfolded giant. He was even able to catch the smell when Blue started out progressively farther away from him, and Red was still successful with the peach pits that he tried next.

"And now," said the lanky Link, turning to Green with a grin, "every experiment needs a baseline to compare it to. Your turn, hotshot."

The archer agreed, but it was soon plain that there was no comparison. He could only follow the scent when the bowl was kept relatively close. It was the same, if not worse, with the peach pits.

"Why don't you try it?" he asked his lanky counterpart, slightly disgruntled, as he pushed the hat back from his eyes.

"Don't need to," Blue replied, still grinning. "I think the hypothesis is proven: Red's nose is much keener than average. Maybe not as good as a hound's, but still really good."

"What about the rest of us?" Purple asked. "Would you want to try something for my hearing?"

"Yeah, sure," said the blue one, rubbing his chin in thought as he looked at the short hero. "Well, it would make sense if your hearing was good. Just look at your ears."

"Blue, yours aren't much smaller," Red said to him.

The tinker shrugged. "Maybe I'd make a good baseline for this experiment, then. I think Green's still too mad at me to do another one, anyway." The archer's only reply was a momentarily raised eyebrow.

"Later, though," said Purple, "I think the princess is coming."

They turned to look at the door, and sure enough, the latch clicked. It opened to admit Zelda herself. With hand over heart, they bowed slightly to her. "Your Highness," they greeted her, careful this time not to speak simultaneously. She seemed much refreshed since she'd seen them off the previous afternoon, rested and looking sharp in a cashmere wool dress, cream-colored, fitted sleeves brocaded in a subtle barred pattern. Her light blue eyes were no longer fatigued and her blond and copper hair sleekly brushed, pinned back from her face and falling down her back. The hard soles of her shoes clicked on the floor as she walked.

"Good morning," she said, inclining her head to return the bow. "It's good to see you returned safe. How did the mission go?"

"Fine," Green replied. "There were some minor complications. But we found Stone Eye, and he told us where the Wind Waker should be." She smiled and nodded. "He says it's in a shrine in a ravine near the Gerudo Desert."

The four of them described the great blind rock to her and related how it remembered what its children had seen out in the world so long ago. Then they told its story of witnessing the baton's use in ancient times of Hyrule, its gifting to the delegation of the Wind Tribe, and its placement in the shrine, as Old Stone Eye said it to them.

"There are very few stories of the Wind Tribe," the princess said after they'd finished. "This visit of theirs to the castle must have happened a long time ago, I can't remember seeing any agreements with them in writing anywhere. I don't know what's become of them, but I'm glad we should be able to retrieve the Wind Waker."

"Anything new on Ganon?" Blue asked her.

"Now that I've heard your report, I'm going to go find out myself," she said. "I'll be back after a while, then we'll work on getting the baton. You can rest a bit for now. Thank you for your work, I'll see you later." They bowed to her and watched her exit the room. The sound of her shoes faded away down the corridor.

Blue waited a few seconds after he could no longer hear them, then asked Red, "So how did she smell?"

The giant's head turned toward him slowly with an expression of mingled incredulity and guilt, then threatening annoyance.

"Because I thought I saw your nostrils flare," the tinker added, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

Red said nothing. He merely stared at his lanky counterpart for another second. Then his fist shot out suddenly and slugged Blue's upper arm just below his deltoid. The tinker 'ouch!'ed as the arm went numb and limp from the well-placed charley-horse. The hulking warrior was grinning now as he watched his victim try to rub life back into his limb, Green chuckled, and Purple cracked a smile.

"Okay, okay, I deserved that," said Blue. "But you could've said something like, 'I couldn't tell over the smell of _you_! Take a bath!'"

"Why should I, when you just did?" replied Red. "And just remember that next time you want to be clever."

"No promises, but I think I _will_ go for that bath." He knocked for Ashley. When the door opened, he said to her, "I smell, and I think we could all do with a bath. Maybe we could get a washtub and put some water on in the kitchen next door?"

She unlocked the side door to said kitchen, helped get the fire lit, and brought the wooden tub, soap, and towels, but left them to their own devices after the water was heating. They took turns in the tub, returning to the dining room after they were scrubbed.

Blue went immediately back to his alchemist's set after he was done and resumed his work from the day before. Purple sat upon his mat with another book. While Red was getting his bath, Green took advantage of the open space available in the middle of the room to practice acrobatics a little. After only a few springs, he wanted to try something else, but couldn't think of what. His gaze fell on the walls, in particular the one on the far side of the door. It was smoothest, uninterrupted by doorways or the posts of columns supporting the ceiling. However, it was hung with a large tapestry, which interfered with what he had in mind.

"Hey, Blue," he called to the tinker, who pushed his goggles back and looked up from his brewing. "Can I borrow your reach for a second?"

"Just call me 'stretch.' One moment." He stabilized his chemicals so he could leave them, and came over to the archer.

"Could you help me get this down?" he asked, patting the hanging. "I want to try something, and I need the wall space.

While Green supported it somewhat, Blue reached his long arms up and untied the rope that held the tapestry hanging off a spike sunk into the mortar. Together they rolled it up and set it to one side in the room, leaving the stone surface bare.

"Thanks, 'Stretch,'" he said to his thin companion.

"Sure thing," he replied, stepping back slightly and looking up at the wall, hands placed thoughtfully on his hips. "What did you want the wall space for?"

"I had an experiment I wanted to try, actually," the slim Link replied, running his fingertips along the stones.

"That thing you did with the wall down there?" Blue asked, to which Green nodded. Purple looked up from his book to watch, curious.

He stroked the wall once more, then lifted his feet one after the other to look at the soles of his boots and rub them. The archer took a breath and a running start, then moved his feet to the wall, his fingertips skimming the surface at the same time. Green actually dashed along the side of the wall for several nimble steps three feet up from the ground. As he felt gravity catching up and his feet starting to slip, he let himself come back down to the floor at a slight arc and landed safely.

He glanced at his companions and found a pair of blue and violet eyes watching him slightly widely. "Do that again," said Blue. Green wiped his soles again and obliged, running along the wall in the other direction, getting two feet farther this time before dropping to the floor.

He gave a laugh at the discovery of this new talent, and tried it once more. He prepared himself, then ran nearly the entire breadth of the wall. The archer smiled widely at the stone surface and came up with another way to challenge himself. He went to the midway point between the two corners, took a step back, and then dashed six feet straight up the face of the wall before dropping back down. Green tried it once more, this time flipping and twisting as he reached the height of his run so he faced his counterparts as he landed. Red had arrived, too, standing in the doorway to the kitchen with his hair damp.

"_That_ was impressive," said the giant. Purple nodded, and Blue applauded softly.

"Oh, man!" Green exclaimed. "I need to get some new soles, something with more grip! Imagine what I could do then!"

"Just don't fall and break your neck," the skinny one said to him.

Green continued testing this ability and was soon springing off the wall, then onto it from the ground and bouncing back off. He tired himself out in short order and was forced to take a break. As he sat he mimed the jumping and running with his hands, imagining working with more than one wall and what it would allow him to do. Red invited Purple to sit on his lifting bench. While he did so with the book he was perusing, the giant raised it over his head, hero, water barrels, and all, but very smoothly and slowly, making sure not to disturb the reader. Purple himself seemed quite content, reading and then meditating as the bench moved up and down without jarring him at all. Blue poured a different solution into each of six small clay vials he'd procured from somewhere, corked them, then bound one to another with twine. This gave him three pairs of vials tied together, and he dabbed paint on their surfaces. Then he cleared his table a little to make room for gears and springs he worked with, and quickly built a mechanism and small chassis of some sort.

Unlike the day before, however, the split hero wasn't left alone for very long. Before boredom had any chance to set in, Princess Zelda came back to their room in a slight rush.

"We'll put a hold on the Wind Waker for now," she said quickly as she entered. "Another one of Ganon's strongholds has just been found."

She had their immediate attention, bringing them to stand before her. "It's to the south, on the border of the Faron Woods. Word from a scout reached the castle just a few minutes ago."

"What do we do?" Green asked. "Crush it like the others?"

"Not this time," she said. "He may be blind now but he's alert to us, and it's probably heavily guarded. For now I want to watch it. The report says they found it by following some of his agents. I'd like to find out how far his conspiracy is spread in the kingdom and weed it out." Zelda took a beat, then stated, "And I'd like you to be on the scouting team."

The four of them glanced at each other. "What about the Wind Waker?" Blue asked.

"Impa will retrieve it," the princess answered. "Once we have it I need to spend time examining it and researching how to use it against Vaati. In all likelihood that will take me a while, and I know you're not happy being confined here. And don't you know the forest? This way you can put your talents to good use while I'm busy with the baton." The quadrifurcated hero considered the task, meeting each other's eyes with positive airs that held no real objection. "Will you do this for me?" she asked after a second.

They nodded to each other, then to her. "We will," Green stated.

"Thank you." She bowed her head, and they saluted her in turn. "Make ready. I'll get rations together for you and show you to another passage leading out. There's a party of scouts leaving from here, they can meet you outside Castle Town with horses and you can head down to the woods."

She turned and made for the door. Red hesitated, one hand slightly raised and his mouth open, then called her back. "Highness…" She paused at the latch and turned back to them.

The giant clasped his hands momentarily and his fellows watched him curiously. He pulled together the gumption to speak, and said to the princess, "Highness, what's wrong with us?"

Her brow furrowed at his question and she pivoted to face them fully. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" His hands spread helplessly and he glanced around for a moment before clarifying. "This room. Sneaking out of the castle through secret passages. Making sure we're not seen by anyone. What's wrong with us, that we're kept a secret?" His smaller companions nodded and looked to her for her answer.

"Nothing's wrong with you," she replied, and paused. "I don't want to cause a panic with the people. Hysteria is something that will only help Ganon and make it that much harder to stop him. I think it's better… if word about Vaati and Ganon and your curse was contained."

Purple asked, "When will the people find out, then? When Vaati destroys their villages or Ganon begins his invasion? If they're threatened, they need to know. I… I would feel very betrayed, if I learned the hard way that my ruler was keeping a secret like that from me. It would make the panic that much worse."

"And I think you should give the people more credit," said Green. "If they know what's out there, they can prepare for it and be watchful."

"I wouldn't blame Ashley if she's getting sick of us by now, too," added Blue with a rueful grin.

The princess grimaced and looked away for a long moment. "You have a point," she said. They watched her expectantly, but she said nothing for a few seconds again and only considered. "I didn't really feel good about keeping the people in the dark," she admitted softly, mostly to herself. Then she lifted her head and sighed bolsteringly. "Very well," Zelda said. "I'll make a proclamation. People should be warned about Vaati for the sake of their daughters."

"Thank you," Red said, seconded by the others.

"Meet the party in front of the barracks, then. Captain Barrit is briefing the scouts, and they'll be ready to leave shortly." She left the room, and outside, she could be heard dismissing the guards and the maid. Then they could hear her heels again as she walked away.

The Links packed their things once again and gathered the implements of their bathing and eating into the kitchen so they would all be in one place. They opened the door to the dining room and walked out, feeling like free men as they made their way out to the castle's inner east courtyard and the barracks. Barrit was indeed speaking to five Hyrulean scouts, lightly armed, packed for the field, harnessed in leather armor, and liveried in brown and green for the forest that was their destination. The captain was answering a question from one of them. He saw the four coming, waved to them, and addressed the scouts.

"Coming with you, will be Link," he told them as they turned and goggled at the quadrifurcated hero. "He's under the curse of the Four Sword right now, which is why there are four of him. But from what I hear, it hasn't affected his abilities."

Grooms brought horses out for the group. "You are all to be careful, watch the stronghold, and get to know the lay of the land down there. Your reports go to Sir Bornelle in Glensight Village, which is the nearest town. He'll relay information to and from the castle via carrier pigeon and the post. Is there anything else you need to ask or do before you leave?" Heads shook all around. "All right then, good luck. Hyrulean Reconnaissance, mount up and move out."

The nine of them saluted Captain Barrit and climbed up into the saddle. As he watched, they trotted out of the east courtyard through the gate into the central. Princess Zelda stood on the high balcony overlooking the main yard and the grand front entrance to the keep, not waving, expression neutral, seeing them off with her presence. The front inner gate was standing open, and hooves clattered as the horses moved down the cobbled path.

"Why aren't we using the postern?" Red said quietly as they passed out into the outer courtyard, sandwiched between the two curtains of walls.

"We just won our right not to use the secret passages, and you'd rather use the postern?" Green asked him, grinning. "Don't want to get carried away, huh?" The giant ignored him.

The party trotted on under the two arched portcullises of the gatehouse, over the lowered drawbridge, then onto the boulevard leading from the castle to the city's central plaza with its fountain. A few of the citizens noticed them, the brighter colors of the tunics making them stand out from the scouts in green and brown, but the attention wasn't more than the split hero could handle. In short order they had ridden down the south road, through the bustle of its market crowd, straight to the city gate that allowed them out into Hyrule Field.

* * *

**AN:** I wish I knew how Blue turned into such a smartmouth for this chapter (or, to use a turn of phrase I liked from CM, wisecrack). Perhaps as an author I'm merely the conduit for these characters and the muses to speak, and really have no control over what they say.

And as you'll soon see, Ganon and Vaati have _not_ been idle while the Links were occupied.

This was another chapter that snowballed unexpectedly and prompted me to split it in two, but I fear falling into a pattern of 'setup-and-travel, action, setup-and-travel, action.' Let's see how I can break that up in the future.

Reviews if you liked this one! Or, just reviews. I'm easy that way!


	10. What do they want with those people?

_Princess Zelda suddenly takes the four Links off the trail of the Wind Waker, for one of Ganon's elusive strongholds has been found, down south near the Faron Woods. For the sake of their sanity, she's sent them on the scouting mission. Impa will worry about getting the baton into Zelda's hands. The change of air should be welcome, but what will they find that Ganon's servants are up to?_

It was six hours' ride southward to the village of Glensight, across the flats, rolls, dips, knolls, and hills of the field. The road led them by ranches and farmsteads large and small, stands of trees that sprouted on the plain, nobles' estates and hamlets, all the way south until the Lost and Faron Woods first appeared as a dark smudge on the horizon. The trees became more apparent as they approached, along with the buildings of the village and the fields surrounding it. Glensight was an important source of lumber for the kingdom, and its wooden structures were of high quality.

The party rode in without fuss and sought out Sir Bornelle, who could be found stationed at the town's small barracks near the mayor's office. He was a cousin to Captain Barrit who could have passed as his brother, sharing pigmentation and similar stature but forgoing his commander and kinsman's choice of facial hair. The knight read the orders they bore in writing from Barrit, and they took an hour to rest after the ride, enjoying the modest but warm hospitality of the mayor. Afternoon was late now, and Sir Bornelle saddled up to lead them three miles away from Glensight, into the forest where the three already-arrived scouts were camped. He checked in with them, reminded the assemblage that they could call on him at any time in Glensight, and returned to the village.

After Bornelle's departure, the new arrivals received their own orientation. The scouts' camp was obscure, tucked into a large bramble stand some five hundred yards back from the forest's fringe. A stone's throw from the camp ran a stream. No fire burned at the moment for the purposes of stealth. The terrain was a slope here, dropping generally towards the east but broken up by wooded ravines. Heroes and new scouts were shown the spots they watched Ganon's stronghold from. The entrance was a cave that drifted back in a spot where the hill was more a cliff. It was about a mile from the campsite through the trees and over uneven ground.

At the moment it didn't look like much, but movement had been seen. Before their arrival, three humans two of the scouts had followed here had exited the cave and headed east, towards the road that ran north (onto the field and towards Kakariko) and south (sometimes flanking and sometimes cutting through the forest, heading down through the province of Ordona's eastern side and leaving the kingdom). Ganon's agents had their old tails following them again when they left; where they went next, the princess would be informed. A pair of bokoblins had come out and made a patrol earlier, but no sentries stood watch at the mouth of the cave, and none had been found in the surrounding forest.

This was part of the forest the split hero wasn't very familiar with. They knew they were actually near the Four Sword Sanctuary—it stood south and east of this cave (The road was the same one they'd ambushed the troop of lizalfos on. This stronghold had likely been their destination). Westward of Glensight, more towards where the Faron Woods became the Lost Woods, had been their haunt before the division, before finding himself lending his service to the crown. The Links' knowledge of the area was imperfect, but their expertise helpful in tightening up the camp and building blinds for the night watchers to survey the cave from. It felt a bit strange to draw on these skills from before the split, something that all four of them still shared.

Darkness came on fast with the tall trees to screen out the sun, and a low fire was built. The group ate, and some went to sleep while one stood watch over the camp and two others went to the blinds to keep an eye on the cave. The night hours were chill and filled with the chirping of crickets, the calls of owls, one wolf howl deep in the forest, and the other noises of nocturnal life. Sentries were relieved and vigilance maintained while the moon made its slow turn through the clear sky.

There was no sign of life at the cave all through the night. Morning came with still nothing to report, and the scouting team was almost all up with the dawn. Blue occupied himself with building a lookout platform hidden in a tall evergreen tree by the camp and was content for quite some time as he worked. Green was relieved at watching the cave and returned to the camp to find the skinny tinker high up the tree, binding the small platform in place.

"Got another experiment," he called up to him.

"What's that?" Blue led him on.

"Red, count how many times he wrapped the rope around that timber there."

"Which one?" the giant asked.

"The one on the edge, there, right at the corner."

The large one peered at the indicated coils of cord. "Um… Six? I can't really tell." He scratched the back of his head.

"Four," said Green.

Blue hooked his grapnel around the trunk of the tree and leaned out from the platform to count. "Four it is. Your vision, huh?"

"Yeah, I kept picking up details while I was watching the cave."

"Then you're a good choice to test out this thing. Climb up here and have a look around."

Green deftly scaled the tree. His thin counterpart had tied and braced a series of branches cut from dead wood to the trunk to almost form the rungs of a ladder. Combined with the fir tree's living branches chosen and marked for their strength, he'd laid out a sequence of hand- and foot-holds that made the climb easy. In short order he slipped through the hole in the platform and climbed up next to Blue. "Is this strong enough for both of us?"

The tinker bent his knees and focused his weight onto the platform. It gave a single creak. "This is the weight limit right here, you and me, but it'll do. Take a look around."

The archer did so. Blue had set the platform low enough that it blended into the canopy of the forest to hide its occupants, but it still afforded an excellent view. All around was a roiling cloudscape of green, puffs of oak, beech, ash, Deku-kin, and other deciduous trees, spiked with tall needleleafs. It went south and west for not far, since taller trees and rising ground created a close horizon, but he knew that the trackless woods went on for miles upon miles. To the north Hyrule Field spread wide. Death Mountain, Snowpeak, and Hyrule Castle stood against the skyline. Towards the east the forest sloped down and ended, and over the tops of the last trees he beheld the sea, reaching out farther than even his eyes could reach. Green took it all in, awed by the beauty, and began paying attention to the details and naming them to Blue.

"I can make out a bit of Glensight, just over the top of the forest. There's a farmer out in one of the fields—wait, no, I think that's a scarecrow. There, I see a person, he's doing something out there." He turned more eastward. "On the road towards Kakariko, I see a dust cloud. Maybe a wagon…" he was silent for several seconds as he watched it. "Going. It's going north, getting farther away… I can't see the cave, too many trees in the way. That would have been handy. I see a bird's nest in that tree, over there, and there's one looks like it was struck by lightning…" He fell silent, still surveying, and Blue grinned.

"I think the hypothesis is proven. I'll leave you alone up here for a while."

"Yeah, sure… Thanks."

The tall one changed the shape of his grapnel again and hooked it on the edge of the platform. He dropped the rope over the side and then climbed down it to the ground. Then he jerked the rope, making the hook fall after him. "He's happy," he said to Red.

* * *

Green spent nearly an hour up on the platform before climbing down. He took his bow and left the camp to practice for some time and explore. Blue left his tinkering to take a shift watching the cave, and Purple approached Red.

"Can you give me a hand with something?" the child asked the giant.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I want to try this outside the forest, actually. Bring some of those sticks Blue had left over."

Red was curious as he and his small counterpart each took a small armful of wood. The mystic led the way, and they made the more than quarter-mile walk out from under the trees to the open land to the north. Purple dropped his load of sticks at a point several yards outside the border and turned to his companion to explain.

"I think I've made a magical breakthrough," he began. "Those books I've been looking at hold some spells that we probably couldn't have done before the split, but I think I can manage them now. I'd like to practice."

The giant nodded at first, encouraging and impressed, but then stopped. "Wait, what did you need me for, then? A target?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. There's just three of them, and one that I need you for. It's the hard one, really. I'm going to go over there," he pointed to a spot a little further out into the field, "and I want you to throw a stick at me. I'll try to stop it."

"Okay… Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," Purple replied, already jogging to his spot. "Don't worry about me, just give me a good throw."

"All right…" Red picked up the least gnarly stick in the pile and gripped it at one end. He waited until Purple came to a stop, faced him, and took a couple of calming breaths. "Ready?"

The mystic rubbed his hands together, shifted his feet, nodded, and made a beckoning motion. "Ready."

Red pitched the stick at him. As it left his grip, Purple's hands moved and he spoke the words of the spell. He was suddenly enveloped by a large crystal, gleaming blue, intricately faceted. But it was only there for a moment, materializing and then shattering forcefully. Its sharp, thumbnail-sized shards flew in all directions. They might have harmed Red, but Purple had picked his distance carefully, making sure that the crystal shrapnel disintegrated before being of danger to his companion. It vanished, and he dodged to one side to avoid the stick.

"My fault," he called to Red. "I cast too soon."

"What _was_ that? Did it work right?"

"Nayru's Love. It worked, I just cast it too soon."

"Wait, really? Isn't that spell a legend?"

"Well, yeah, but it's real, you just saw it. Let's try again."

Red reached down and picked up another piece of wood, then stated, "I'm seeing a myth brought to life, and I'm throwing things at it."

"I'm pretty sure the princess can do it. Okay, I'm ready."

He threw again, and Purple cast the spell. He waited longer, but was still too quick, nearly getting hit.

"Gotta get the timing down. Again."

The third time, he was late, and the stick hit him in the forearm before the spell was complete. He rubbed the impact and Red asked him if he was all right.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nearly had it. And don't try to miss me, it's got to be heading towards me. Wish Blue was around the camp, I could've asked if he had a potion for spellcasting. Okay, again."

The fourth casting was on. The blue shell of magic encased him, the stick thunked against it and bounced back, then the crystal exploded. "Yes!" said Purple, raising a triumphant fist as Red did the same. "Two more, then I should try the next one." The fifth was slightly early. The spell shattered before the stick hit, but the shards knocked it safely out of the air. On the sixth attempt, the timing was good once again, the projectile blocked by the magic shield.

"I'll need to practice more," Purple said, shaking his hands out.

"But you're getting it!" the giant said in encouragement. "What's next? More sticks?"

"No, no more sticks. That was the tricky one. This one just needs concentration." He centered himself with a deep breath, momentarily closing his eyes. Then he worked the spell, its gestures and words markedly different from the first, and turned in place. It was almost as if he twisted himself out of existence, for he vanished with a faint flash of green, and reappeared the same instant to Red's left, closer to the tree line.

"Whoa!" said the giant. "What's that one?"

"Farore's Wind," Purple replied. "Need to practice that one, too. It's scary, it would probably be really bad if I teleported into a tree or solid rock or something." He took another deep breath and rubbed his head, starting to feel the strain of the heavy magic use, then smiled at his companion. "Want to guess what the last one is?"

Red only had to think for a moment. "Din's Fire?"

"Din's Fire."

Purple made its obeisance and invoked it, then threw out his hand towards the spot he'd been testing the first spell on. A fireball the size of his fist shot from his open palm and streaked out to a distance of perhaps twenty yards, where it detonated mid-air into a large explosion with a _fwoomph_ noise.

"_That's_ why I didn't want to try it in the forest. But I guess I probably should have sent it the other way, just in case anyone was looking out at the cave."

"Good thought," said Red, and looked at him. "Do you think you have one more of those in you?"

The child nodded slowly. "One more, yeah, but I was hoping to keep something in reserve."

"If I throw a stick, you think you can hit it?"

Purple grinned. "Okay. Let's give it a shot."

Red hurled the stick high and far. The short hero watched it, then sent out another fireball, heading to intercept it. It chased the piece of wood momentarily, then exploded, splintering and charring its target. "Nice," the giant said to him, to which he inclined his head in thanks.

"That's my limit for now, at least until I have one of those potions. Let's make sure we won't have any grassfires, then get back." They gathered the kindling they'd brought and confirmed that there was nothing smoldering from the two explosions (the large one's nose was helpful for that), then started back towards the camp.

"Hey, Red? Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome. Thanks for showing me that."

* * *

It was roughly noon now. The party had eaten lunch and Green was back up in the perch. He may have stayed up longer if he hadn't spotted something, called down softly, "Sir Bornelle's coming," and descended. The knight rode into the camp quietly, cloaked in dark gray, wearing a sword at his waist and a light chainmail hauberk on his torso. Tucked under one arm was a small wicker cage that contained a homing pigeon. Red held his bridle as he dismounted.

"Good afternoon, Reconnaissance. Anything to report?" he asked, stroking his horse's neck. Shaking heads and 'no, sir''s indicated negative. There had been no new developments since Bornelle left the night before. "I have news, though. Pigeon came from Castle Town a little earlier, from Captain Barrit."

He removed from his pocket the small leather tube that had been bound to the bird's leg and extracted the rolled scrap of paper. The knight read aloud its words to the assemblage: "'Bornelle—Expect twenty cavalry arriving at Glensight later today to await further orders. Four arrests in Kakariko when conspirators arrived from your area. Proclamation on Ganon and Vaati made, handled well so far. Young girl missing from Lake Hylia village, probably Vaati. Send pigeon immediately if there's anything to report. Arrests may lead to action soon. Captain Barrit.'"

The knight handed Red the cage with the bird. "Send him if there is anything, he'll come to me at the village and I'll relay to the castle." He stayed to let his horse drink a bit and take a breather, and then he was gone again.

With Bornelle gone, Green began pacing. After a minute of watching his agitation, Blue, who had returned from his shift on the cave, asked, "What's wrong?"

"That little girl," the archer replied. "She must be the first one Vaati's snatched, but there'll probably be more. And here we are, waiting around and just watching this cave where nothing's going on."

"Green, nothing was going on at the castle, either."

"My point exactly! The only thing that's changed is the scenery, and Vaati's taken a girl. I'm starting to wish we'd stuck with getting the Wind Waker and focusing on him."

"You heard the princess, she'll need time to work with it anyway."

"Maybe not. Maybe we could still beat him, or at least keep him from kidnapping anyone else, the sword might be enough for that. It probably is. This doesn't feel right, what if we're being set up again?"

Blue could hear the first hints of a frenzy in his voice. He kept his own tone calm when he asked him, "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know! But I can't just wait around here while that demon grabs more little girls."

"Green, look at me. _Look at me_." The tinker stood, took his slightly-stockier counterpart by the shoulders, and forced him to meet his eyes. "I understand how you feel. I do, I mean that. But we _have_ to wait. She'll be okay, and we'll take care of him soon. Quickly, even, the princess will probably figure out the baton in no time."

"How do you know that? And how can you let him run amok while we sit on our hands? Are you my cowardly side?"

Blue's jaw gritted and he dropped his hands. "That's not true, and you know it." The shooter sniffed and looked away, saying nothing. The tinker folded his arms, frowning, giving up on tact. "All right then, Hotshot. What would you rather do? You got a plan, or do we just charge across the countryside looking for the Wind Mage and pick a fight? Meanwhile, Ganon does whatever he wants here and we know nothing about it."

Green was silent for a moment before he made his suggestion. "We should get _this_ over with, this cave, and get back to the Wind Waker or hunting him down."

"What are you saying, we charge the cave with the four of us and eight scouts? That's crazy, don't you remember what the old fort was like? A dozen guys wouldn't have stood a chance there, and Ganon's probably only increased his guard."

"What have we seen here? Two bokoblins and three humans before we even arrived. What else? Nothing. Not even a mean rat."

"Doesn't mean anything, we have no idea what might be waiting in the cave."

"And we won't find out if we just stay here."

Blue stared at him for a beat. "I know you're bored, but I didn't think you were suicidal."

"You got a better idea?" The agile hero folded his arms across his chest.

"_No_, Green," said Red, coming into the argument. "We're under orders: just watch."

The shooter looked to Purple for support, but the child shook his head. "We can't go in blind."

"Look," said Blue consolingly, "Twenty knights are on their way to the village. With them, we'll stand a better chance against whatever's in there, and orders to attack will probably come soon. Just not now."

Red dropped his voice low, glancing at the scouts who were trying to appear oblivious to the argument. "And we can't ask these kids to throw their lives away like this. Have a little patience, have a little faith."

The archer broke away from them roughly, boiling with frustration. He snatched up a piece of firewood and swung it into the trunk of a tree, snapping it in two. Then he stalked off in a show of temper.

About fifteen minutes later he returned, cooled down a bit but still speaking to no one. The archer sat in front of the cold fire ring and drank from his waterskin. His companions let him be.

A further two hours passed with Green's disgruntlement unvoiced but apparent, and the rest of the camp lapsed into quiet. Blue continued to tinker, Purple sat in meditation to refresh his mind after his earlier spellcasting, and Red patrolled the surrounding woods. The idleness was beginning to grate on all their nerves, truth be told, and everyone began to look forward to new orders or some news.

Then the scout standing watch on the lookout perch hissed down, "Green! I think I see something, come up here quick!"

The archer's brow furrowed as his head turned towards the scout. He stood and drew the hookshot from the small of his back. He took aim and its end shot out, catching purchase on the platform's edge. It pulled him up forcefully, he grabbed the edge with his free hand, and climbed up. His green eyes peered intently in the direction of the cave, and his lips pursed.

"What is it?" Red asked.

"Big group heading towards the cave. I can't make out much, but I don't think they're friends. We need to get over there, now."

He and the scout scrambled down from the platform while the others grabbed their gear together. The four Links and the Recon dashed quietly through the woods towards the blinds where the two watchers already were.

They looked around at the very faint sounds of their approach and beckoned emphatically. It was a sobering sight that greeted them when they peered through the camouflage stand at the approach to the cave.

Monsters were arriving. A party of travel-dusted bulblin raiders emerged from the trees at the far side, astride huge boar beasts and laden with bows, clubs, and curved blades. Moblins made wide strides among them, thick arms bearing long spears. There had to be at least sixty monsters, a quarter of which were the hulking moblins. But worse than their numbers and their arms was who they brought with them: prisoners.

The frightened population of a small thorp was tied wrist-to-wrist in a chain, women carrying their small children and supporting the men too wounded to walk on their own. Green counted fifteen adults and guessed half again that many young ones. Many still cried, all stumbled from weariness, and monsters on bulbo-back drove them with harsh, gargling shouts and willow switches probably cut for just this purpose. The humans were driven en-masse into the mouth of the cave and were followed by the monsters, growling amongst themselves and shifting weapons from hand to hand.

When they disappeared underground, the scouting team slipped back to confer in hushed tones.

"We have to send the pigeon," said one of the scouts, Rael.

"What do they want with those people?" wondered his brother.

"Food?" guessed Terry, the one who'd spotted them coming. All glanced towards the mouth of the cave.

Green's eyes were hard as he looked at his counterparts. "We have to do something," he said through gritted teeth.

"I agree," said Red softly. "When it was just us at risk, it was one thing. But this… This is something else."

"Hold on, we can't go in there with just us," Blue whispered. "You're right, we _do_ have to do something, but we're going to get slaughtered… Do you think those knights arrived at Glensight by now? We'll need more men if we're going to stand a chance against all that."

Green smiled predatorily. "We've got another edge. I found a hole over that way. I didn't check it out thoroughly, but from where it is I think it might be a back door they don't use or know about."

"Okay, great," said the tinker. "But we'll still need to wait for the knights."

"There may not be any time! There were wounded," Rael hissed. He said to his sibling, "Orret, I thought I saw Gwyllis in there. That might be her village!"

"She's our cousin," Orret explained in a worried grimace. "Rael's right, they looked like they've been traveling a long way, and the monsters're probably hungry. We can't wait long."

"We can start in," said Purple. "It may take a bit to sneak in."

"Okay," said Green. "I think I have a plan. Recon, you guys send the pigeon to Bornelle and tell him to get here fast with the knights and whoever else he has over there. We'll check out this hole. If it works, we'll wait one hour for you to get them in place, and then we hit them from both sides. If we can't get through… We'll figure something out. Does that sound good?"

The team glanced around at each other, and though apprehensive, they nodded. It would be very dangerous, but it might work, and it might be the best chance they had to help the prisoners before they came to further harm.

"All right, that's what we'll do. Tell him to get them here quick."

The group split, scouts running for the camp and the Links following Green's lead to the possible back door.

* * *

**AN:** Once more, we're going underground. How nice in the games when we can spelunk a dungeon that's partially open-air. You'd think I'd take that as a clue, huh? No, you'll see.

I did indeed use the _SSBM_ versions of the goddess's three spells for Purple. I really like them, and he's got other tricks available that emulate the _OoT_ versions. But the scene of him testing them out with Red was nice to write. All four of them are still exploring their capabilities as a split being.

One note on the previous chapter: I should have written _homing pigeon_, not _carrier pigeon_. Now working to replace all the following references; that's what I get for not doing my research.

Also, keep an eye out for a oneshot I've been waiting to release, later this week.

We're back underground, but reviews can follow into the earth if they dare!


	11. Fun's just beginning

_Things are looking grim on the scouting mission of the cave in the Faron Woods. Initially there was no activity, but now a large force of bulblins and moblins has arrived, bringing along with them the innocent population of a small village. Rather than let them come to an unknown, probably gruesome fate, the Links are galvanized into action. While they sneak in the back door, reinforcements will be fetched for an attack. But will they be in time to help the villagers, and what chance do they stand against so many enemies?_

Green led the others to an old riverbed he'd discovered and showed them the opening he'd found in the bank, so small that Red would have to crawl in on his belly. Cold air came out through it, and inside it was dark and quiet. It wasn't far from the cave, and if it stayed in this direction it seemed like it would connect with the hideout.

"I'll go in first and check it out," said Purple. "I can move the best in there." He accepted the unlit lantern from Blue, hung it on his belt with a hook the tinker had added just for this purpose, and entered the hole in a low stoop. Quickly he was out of sight, swallowed by the hole, and remained that way for a few minutes. Then the child's return was announced by the lantern's light approaching around a slight bend. He stepped around the corner and beckoned to them. "It's tight quarters at first, but it gets bigger further in. So far so good."

One by one they squeezed after him into the chilly earth. Fine tree and plant roots grew from the ceiling, brushing their hats. Thankfully there was indeed more head room when they turned the corner, but Red and Blue were still forced to hunch and squeeze through a series of fissures in the jagged path. Following that was another slight bend, but they were still heading towards the cave—their time in the Sheikah catacomb had sharpened their senses of direction. The tunnel sloped slightly downward as they moved along. It opened to a cave before them, and the lantern illuminated a wide, deep subterranean crevasse that cut across their path.

"This is as far as I got," said Purple.

"Makes it look like they _don't_ use this for a back door," Red commented. "But how do we cross?"

"I can fly it," answered the mystic.

"That tree root, there," said Green, pointing to the large, gnarled wooden finger that hung from the ceiling on the far side. "I can get that with the hookshot."

Blue peered at the target he indicated and hooked the lantern on his waist. "I see it. I think I can get my grappling hook around that and swing across." He turned to the giant. "That just leaves you, big guy. I'll throw the rope back across and you can swing."

Purple cast his spell, changing his form into that of an amethyst-colored fairy. Easily he flew straight across the ravine, dropping a couple of motes into its abyss that darkened long before they had any hope of reaching the bottom. His flight was effortless, but drove home how deep and dark the gap was in the short time it took him to reach the far side. There he countered the spell, and turned back to watch the others cross. Green had the hookshot in hand, sighting carefully on the tree root. With a clack and a spring he triggered it, proving his aim once again as the end found purchase in his mark. Its chain ratcheted and yanked him across the crevasse and up to the ceiling, from whence he dropped lightly to the floor next to his short counterpart.

Blue had the rope coiled in his right hand. The left set the shape of the grapnel, then twirled it in circles over his head. His tongue stuck out slightly as he swung it faster, then snapped his arm forward and cast the hook at the root. The throw was good, and it caught around his mark. He pulled the rope taut, took a breath to steel himself, then with a running start he leapt into thin air, pumping his long legs with the swing to encourage the momentum and get him all the way across.

But with a grinding noise and a shifting of soil, the root pulled out of the ceiling slightly, making the rope jerk lower while the tinker was in mid-swing. All felt the bottoms drop out of their stomachs. Blue's only support went slack and he fell towards the far edge. He hit against it with his chest, knocking the wind out of him as his elbows and hands scrabbled for purchase against sliding back into the nothingness. Gravel was knocked loose into the abyss as he clawed. His companions were on him instantly, Purple grasping his forearm, Green reaching down and grabbing his belt. Together they hauled him up onto solid ground. He lay there for a second as his breath returned to him, then got to his feet and rolled his rope back up.

"Thanks." The tinker looked up at the root in the ceiling that had failed him, then gazed across at the far bank, where Red still stood. "Great, now what?" He began scanning the ceiling for another, sturdier, root or other point to use.

The giant's eye was taking in the distance between the two sides of the crevasse. He began backing up, and waving for them to move aside.

"What's he doing?" said Green in alarm.

"Red, no! Are you crazy? No!" the lanky hero shouted, even as Red began his running start. His rope was still in his hands, and he began twirling it, doubting that he could get it around the giant in mid-air, but having nothing else that might save his companion.

The large Link reached the edge at a dash. His muscles bunched with power as he planted one foot and jumped out over the ravine. His arms and legs milled as if treading the air as he flew for the excruciating seconds, halfway across—he was past the peak of his arc now—three-quarters of the way, dropping, still sailing, coming down…

The giant made the impossible leap. He landed heavily, toppling forward slightly, and glanced back at the gap once, then turned a broad grin on his dumbfounded companions.

"You're nuts!" declared Blue, and Purple shushed him. He obliged by lowering his voice to a hiss when he added, "I can't believe you did that!"

"I know," said Red, still smiling in elation. "But we know how far I can jump now."

The tinker put his forehead in his hand. "Do me a favor: next time you want to do an experiment, _try_ not to give us a heart attack in the process."

"You're no fun," the large one told him, getting upright.

"Almost falling into _that_ dampens one's sense of fun."

"Okay, okay. Now onward."

From here on, silence was called for. They made their way down the tunnel, the lamp-flame dim, alert for danger ahead. Their passage became twistier, but widened a bit at a time. They came across another gap that their path skirted, a sheer drop straight down. Past it, Red sniffed, then peered forward. Soon they found the source of the smell: another shaft, with something rotting deep down at its floor that they could not see. The monsters had disposed of something in this handy hole. They must be getting close.

Purple tapped his ear as they stalked on. The tunnel's twists were gone, and it was wide enough for the two taller heroes to walk shoulder-to-shoulder through, but all still hugged the wall. Now it reached all their ears: children sniffing back tears, older voices whispering, echoing off the stones.

The tinker killed the light completely. They approached one last bend in the tunnel. Faint illumination from torches came around it and flickered orange on the ground and walls. Green crept up to the corner, bracing his hands against the wall, light on his feet. He peeked around it slowly with one eye.

Their tunnel led into a section of the cavern where the prisoners were gathered and guarded. This cave was small, maybe forty feet across, fairly round in shape. A rough corral had been erected to contain the villagers somewhat, but they seemed too exhausted or wounded to be of any trouble, and a bulblin stood guard near the mouth of another tunnel. It must lead to the rest of the cavern.

The archer slid back from his peek and whispered to his companions: "One bulblin, and the people in a corral. Can't see the rest of the monsters."

"The hour's not up yet," said Blue. "Still maybe… twenty minutes to go, I guess."

"I want to help these people. I've got an idea to get the guard out of the way." Green pulled the slingshot from his belt. "If I can get him over here where he won't be heard, we'll take him out."

He fitted a seed to the slingshot's band and crept back to the corner. His sharp green eyes fixed for a moment on the bulblin, then on the walls of the cave. Green picked his mark, raised his weapon, and took his shot. The bullet angled off the stone, headed towards the monster.

The guard felt something sting it hard in the shoulder, and grunted. Its horned head swept to its right, where the impact had come from. Nothing was there. Had it been a bug? It glared at the blubbering humans it stood watch over, but none looked at it. Club in hand, it circled their corral, beady eyes searching for a guilty face.

There was a noise from the barrier's opposite side, a sort of snap, leading the monster to the left. It growled, and continued around the crude wooden rails. If these oversized pink monkeys were making trouble for him, it thought as it passed the trash tunnel, they'd soon come to regret it.

A rope and grapnel sailed out of the darkness behind it and wrapped around its body, pinning its arms to itself, pulling taut. Before it knew what was happening or could shout in alarm, the rope yanked it back out of sight. There was a _thud_ and a soft _fwoomph_, then four figures of various size slunk out into the torchlight.

"_Shhhhh_," said Green to the villagers as they revealed themselves to them, for they had begun to whisper loudly. "Stay very quiet. We're going to get you out of here."

The archer, the mystic, the tinker, and the giant climbed over the corral walls or slipped between its rails. "Who's hurt bad?" Blue asked softly as he shrugged off his pack and dug out the healing kit.

"Hi, what's your name?" Green asked as he crouched next to a man pierced in his shoulder with two arrows, cradled in a woman's lap as she pressed a piece torn from her petticoat to the wounds.

"Karl," he said, sweat beaded on his forehead, and raised the hand that would not pain him by moving to the woman. "My wife, Maureen."

"Nice to meet you both. We're here to help."

Three of the men bore serious cuts, one of whom had also been beaten with a club, plus Karl. The others had lesser injuries, mostly strikes from clubs and spear-hafts that left large bruises and one possible break. One woman had a gash to her hip from a bulbo tusk that could have been an agonizing and fatal goring if she'd been pierced higher and deeper in her abdomen. Most of the villagers, older children included, also had welts on their arms, shoulders, and upper backs, from the switches that had been used to drive them. Wounds had been bound cursorily with strips torn from their neighbors' clothing. The split hero brought comfort to them, and medicine and new bandages. Their healing kit lay open as they worked, and potions were administered to the three men lacerated badly by bulblin swords.

Purple was wrapping a bandage around the waist of woman who'd been gored with help from her friend. He tied it off deftly, and she smiled. "Thank you, lad, Gwyllis," she added to the other woman.

"Gwyllis?" the child asked her, and she nodded. "Your cousins Rael and Orret are here, they're getting help. We're going to—" he froze, and cocked his head slightly to one side. Then his violet eyes widened and he waved frantically at his companions, then jabbed a finger forcefully towards the door. He'd heard someone coming.

Red's head snapped in that direction, and he gave a thumbs-up. Quickly he picked his way out of the villagers and clambered over the fence.

Green hissed to the others, "Blend in." Blue stuffed the medicine kit back into his bag and he and Purple sought to mingle with the prisoners. The crimson hero pressed himself against the wall, near the passage he could smell and hear the bulblin coming up.

"Scabs!" it called in its gargling, wavy voice as it neared the door, coming closer and closer to the corner. "Scabs, you dummy!" Impatience was entering its tone. "Where—"

The bulblin came into view, and Red moved. One hand seized it by the back of the neck, the other the front of its jerkin. He hauled it in and swung it around, slamming its head face-first into the wall beside him. It was stunned, but he saw with dismay that one horn had broken and protected it from the fatal impact, forcing him to hit it against the stones again. It trilled once, not loud but much louder than he would have liked, and its skin blackened just before it burst into smoke in his grip.

"How long?" he asked in a low voice to Blue.

The tinker shook his head. "Five minutes, any minute now, I don't know."

"I think we're out of time. Looked like he was coming to check on things, and when he's missed…"

"You're probably right." The thin hero got to his feet, hoisted his pack, and moved to take down the corral's 'gate' of rails stacked less securely than the others. "What do we do? If we hole up here we could hold them off, but we won't do the knights much good when they get here."

"That's what I was thinking," said Green. "Let's have a look at least."

"Stay here, stay safe," Purple told the villagers, and the four of them started down the last passage.

The giant's nose told him that there were many boars in the next part of the cavern. The passage connecting them was quite straight, and not long at all, making them worry worse that noise may have already given them away. Some luck still proved to be with them when they spotted the outcrop of rock they could use for cover near the tunnel's far end.

It was a vast cavern, they saw when they looked out. Daylight managed to filter in weakly from the cave's mouth, to their right. At the back was another large corral that held the bulbos. Fires and torches burned here and there across the cavern floor. What looked like a tall, dark, flat-faced slab of stone stood near the middle, flanked with a pair of braziers.

Of greater interest to the quadrifurcated hero than anything, though, were the monsters, for they were many. There was the large party that had captured the villagers, a half-dozen bokoblins, and twice that number in lizalfos. This was big trouble.

A few bulblins seemed agitated, and they were forced to pull their heads back as one glanced in their direction.

"Any minute now?" the giant hero asked in an undertone the skinny one, who nodded, but held his lips pursed uncertainly. "What now?" he posed to all.

The tinker's blue eyes fell on the boar-pen, and lit slightly. He pointed towards it, and whispered, "Stampede. Chaos." They grinned their approval.

Speed more than stealth was their goal as they picked their way towards the corral, but they hugged the cavern's wall and stayed out of the light as best they could, seemingly avoiding notice. The smell of the bublos was powerful when they reached the corral, and their tiny red eyes regarded them not with malice, but caution. These human creatures were staying too quiet, moving crouched like predators, and had a strange scent. They grunted loudly, shifted on their cloven hooves, and swished their tufted tails.

The four Links found the willow crops in a pile where the bulblins had tossed them. Three of them took them up and they jumped the fence into the pen. They exchanged a glance and a nod, then rose to their full heights.

The bulbos' sudden agitation had not completely escaped notice, and monsters were looking in the direction of the corral. They cried out, even as the split hero ran at the boars suddenly, whooping and swinging the switches. Red laid a resounding _thwack_ on one's rump with the flat of the Biggoron's Sword. They grunted loudly, squealed, and ran, driven on, starting to panic, and bowled through the corral walls.

It was satisfactory pandemonium for a minute with flying fence rails and stacked stones that had made up the posts. Howling monsters scattered or were trampled (the bokoblins fared particularly poorly here), stirred-up campfires spewed sparks, and a few boars made it all the way out of the cave.

But the bulblins knew how to handle their mounts, and they were creatures naturally more aggressive and harder to frighten than horses. They grabbed reins or blocked their paths, crooning to them and calming them with their large green hands. There was still confusion, but all-too-soon the four heroes found the eyes of Ganon's troops turning on them.

"That could have lasted longer," Blue said. His hand flexed and drew his boomerang. "I wouldn't have complained."

"Here we go," declared Green as he raised his bow and loosed an arrow at the nearest bulblin. It dropped with the shaft protruding from its chest and puffed out.

Purple leveled the ice rod and activated its power. A thin beam of blue lanced from its end and streaked across the cave, and another bulblin fell with a hip paralyzed by cold. Blue hurled the boomerang and struck successive monsters across the face, then threw it again when it returned.

Despite the ranged assault, a group of bulblins were coming at them with swords drawn. Green stopped two with his bow, but Red called out, "Leave them to me!" and he focused on more distant targets.

The giant twirled the heavy Biggoron's Sword in his hands, then took a step forward as he slashed at the monsters. His unfortunate target was knocked over by the force of the blow and lacerated badly from the blade's edge, and it soon expired with a flash. Even as it lay dying, its fellows were being scattered and slain by the long, sharp weapon in the red hero's grip before they could get into reach to attack.

Green's hands were a blur as he shot arrow after arrow into the press of foes. He saw the first moblin approaching with its spear in hand, and he sighted at its heart. It staggered when the quarrel struck it, but it kept coming. The archer stiffened. A shot like that had taken down a moblin just the other day. Granted, that had been at a closer range, nevertheless… But then he noticed that it was even brawnier than the monsters he'd ambushed just before the split, as were the others, and gritted his teeth. The King of Evil had gotten his hands on a stronger breed somehow. It took another pair of arrows, group closely with the first, before the large monster dropped to its knees and perished.

By then, another one was getting very near to the giant, who was carving through more bulblins. "Red, you've got a big ugly coming!" the lithe one shouted, turning his attention on the more distant foes that weren't as impervious to his arrows.

The crimson hero destroyed two monsters with the same swing, looked up at the moblin, and grinned. "Great! Him I can _hit_!"

"He's got a thick hide!" Green warned him as he loosed again. Another cluster of bulblins was getting close, and Blue was throwing bombs as well as his boomerang now.

The bulblins had wisely started to keep their distance from the deadly greatsword, but they felt a little emboldened by the hulk with the pike. Its reach was longer than his, and it handled the spear cannily, not letting him chop the shaft apart. A sudden thrust grazed Red's ribs, and he grunted. He ran forward at the monster, angry now and determined to make an end of it, but found himself getting hit about the waist and hips by the bulblins as his focus obviously went to the bigger foe. Nevertheless he shrugged off the wounds and attacked the moblin. It avoided the cut and swung at his shoulder with the spear-haft, but he parried. Then he slid in closer and kicked the monster's knee, gave it an elbow-strike in the face, and when it stumbled back, he split its head with his blade. A bulblin club striking his lower back made the mistake of attracting his attention, and with sudden fury he hewed into the smaller monsters.

Pressure was going up on the beleaguered hero, for the lizalfos were coming on towards Red. Blue saw their approach. His bombs were half-gone and required careful handling, as the monsters had quickly become wary of them, but he had to do something to help his burly companion. His eyes fell on the pile of rocks the size of a man's head that had been a post of the corral, and he grinned. His oversized hands hefted one up to his shoulder, he took a step, and hurled it shot-put-style at the rapidly approaching reptiles. The throw was good, and one his mark would not get up from. He grabbed another, and threw again with a grunt.

The giant began retreating towards his companions. Purple dodged to his side to support him, opening up with the fire rod. The flame set two bulblins alight, burned a lizalfos, and checked the rest in their tracks.

"More uglies," said Blue, with five moblins and another clutch of bulblins approaching them now.

Blue had a nice-sized stack of rocks, and made deadly use of them at any monster approaching Red. The giant, for his part, was still swinging his two-handed sword as he backed up, aided by flaming blasts and frosty rays from the rods in Purple's hands. Green was trying to slow the approaching moblins. The decreasing range to his marks made his shots come faster, but they were far less daunted than he would have liked.

The split hero formed a cluster around the tinker's pile of ammunition, but were surrounded by a semi-circle of glaring and jeering monsters. The enemies stayed out of Red's reach and dodged what attacks from Blue and Purple that they could. Green's bow still found marks, but for every foe he sent to smoke another would only take its place.

Suddenly there was a shout from the back rank of monsters, and the jabs and brandishes from those directly threatening them ceased. Green groaned as he saw the cause. "Shields!" he cried. Purple's ears caught the creaking of bow limbs and strings.

The split hero unslung their shields and raised them, standing together as a rain of arrows fell upon them from bulblin archers some yards back from the standoff. Another wave came down, and they could perceive that the moblins were approaching with spears leveled while they were pinned by the missiles.

"They're getting smart," the tinker admitted sourly. "Now would be a _really_ good time for the knights to get here."

"Sword?" the lithe one suggested. His bow was already slung, and Red and Purple put up the weapons they were still holding.

"Sword!" they agreed, as four hands closed around the gold-colored hilts over their left shoulders.

The Four Sword sang as its pieces were unsheathed. Its wielders were consumed in a flash of white light, and when it dimmed an instant later, they had assumed the fused form. As one, shields raised, they charged into the ranks of the monsters. The first ones were knocked off-balance, and then the hero began laying about ferociously. Their arms moved together, slashing and thrusting left and right, kicks and shield attacks driving back monsters large and small. Their furious assault slew many and the air was thick with the acrid stink of their death.

It almost routed their antagonists. The front rank collapsed into disarray, which only made it easier for the bulblins and lizalfos to be cut down. The monsters fell back a couple of steps to regroup.

But it seemed their fury was being spent quickly. The twelve seconds that the sword had been flashing here and there had seemed like a deadly eternity, but the hero was slowing already, identical expressions going from grim to strained.

It was then that some of the remaining moblins thrust with their spears. Shields protected them, but the force made them stumble back, breaking their line and shaking their concentration. One pikehead slid past a guard and pierced the blue hero in the shoulder. Spontaneously, the other three began to bleed from the same spot, and they retreated, stumbling.

With a gasp and sweat streaming down their faces, they sheathed the blade together and reverted to their distinctive shapes. The headache was painful, as was the wound they shared.

"Back!" Red cried breathlessly. Another hail of arrows arced down on them, several finding human flesh, and the front rank of enemies reformed.

"Blast," Green hissed in pain.

They needed time. Blue's hand went to his belt pouch and pulled out one of his pairs of vials tied together. He squinted at their color, then set his jaw and threw it in front of the press of enemies. The clay shattered, the chemicals mixed, and an explosion of smoke sprang up from the impact. Purple's eyes lit, and he pulled the Cane of Somaria from across his shoulder and swung it with a shout. It conjured a large stone block between them and the monsters, and they sheltered behind it, crouching or collapsing with their backs against its surface.

"Potions," said Blue, digging the bottles of red medicine out of his bag with shaking hands and distributing them. They gulped them down.

Purple held out his hand for another. "Magic," he demanded, and the tinker obliged him with a flask holding green fluid.

The smoke was dissipating already, and they heard shouts and approaching footfalls. Blue recollected the bottles and stuffed them away.

"Fun's not over," said Red grimly, sliding the Biggoron's Sword an inch out of its scabbard.

Blue's eyes widened. "Fun's just beginning," he said weakly, pointing. Around the corner of the block, they could see charging bulblins mounted on their boars, gargling war cries and twirling their clubs over their heads as the bore down on them.

Inspiration struck Green, and he yanked three arrows out of his quiver (it was, he noticed, getting uncomfortably empty). He nocked all to his string at once, drew, aimed at the beast in the lead, and loosed.

The trio of shafts sunk into the boar's throat, and it crashed onto its side, throwing its riders. More were coming. Purple raised his palm and spoke the words of one of his new spells. The fireball flew and detonated amongst the next enemies, and they squealed and stumbled, flesh burned and coats aflame.

From the other side came another galloping boar, its rider shooting arrows. Red brought up his shield, and behind him, Blue pulled on a bomb's fuse. It snapped alight and he hurled it into the monster's path, where it exploded, making it veer off.

Suddenly their cover began to shrink—the block was actually growing smaller. Purple was responsible, the cane still in his hand. "It's going to disappear soon!" he said to the two tallest Links. "Throw it at them!" He jerked his head towards the nearby assemblage of moblin-kin and lizalfos.

The large and lanky heroes tilted the block onto one edge so they could get a grip underneath. With grunts, they hoisted it up to their waists, then their shoulders. It was a great weight, even for the two of them. Purple and Green covered for them, shooting and casting to keep enemies at bay.

On the count of three, they took two steps to get momentum and heaved the block at the stunned group. It landed among them, rolling once and crushing a few. But even before it came to rest, Purple swung the Cane of Somaria again, and the large stone burst apart, harming the monsters further.

Despite all the devastation they'd managed to wreak on their enemies, they were still vastly outnumbered and getting weaker. Green spent the last of his own arrows and was forced to scoop up and shoot bulblin shafts he could find on the ground. Moblins came towards them. Blue cast his grappling hook and caught one's spear, which he yanked out of its surprised hands and then threw back into its owner. Red met the next wave of bulbo-mounted enemies, cutting one out of the saddle. Another narrowly missed goring him with its mount, but its rear rider slashed his shoulder and chest as it passed, then rode on and laid a cut across Blue's back. Green was squarely in its path, lining up a shot on one of the moblins.

"Green, look out!" Purple shouted. He tried to turn the fire rod in the rider's direction, but a lizalfos was suddenly upon him, and he had no choice but to fleche back hard. He cast Nayru's Love and peppered the reptile with crystal shrapnel.

The archer's eyes widened suddenly at the far-too-close boar as it lowered its head to offer its tusks. He threw himself to the side, out of its path, and twisted in mid-air. His mouth was a hard line as he drew a bead on the bulblin holding its reins, and in the mere instant he had before he landed on his side on the ground, he shot it squarely in the neck. It pitched over the bulbo's side and the beast ran on.

"_What_ is going on in there?!" a booming voice suddenly demanded. It wasn't altogether unfamiliar to the split hero: deep, laced with malice when quieter, menacing now when shouting. How could he be heard with the princess's spell blocking him?

Blue and Purple determined the source: the tall, mysterious black object near the room's center. It had changed slightly, taking on a soft glow. Its face swirled as if it held a mist within it, and it fuzzily reflected the torches on its either side.

"Mirror," they said together. It had to be smashed, before Ganon saw what was going on or rallied his forces. They were hard-pressed enough already. The tinker pulled out one of his last bombs, lit it with a tug of his fingernails, and cast it towards the mirror. It bounced, then rolled to a stop at its foot, hissing as it burned down. Then it went off, shattering the dark surface, dispelling its illusion of depth.

Despite that, things were getting really out of hand. The split hero fought off cautious monsters nearby only to be hazed as bulblos tore past. It was coming from every direction at once; all were too beset upon to support the others.

Then another volley of arrows was loosed. They had no chance to raise their shields; the best they could do was attempt to dodge, duck their heads, and cover them with their arms. All were hit at least once. Red, tangling with a pair of moblins, was a popular target with the bowmonsters, possibly due to his size and color. He took a couple of shafts in his upper chest, one in his side, and a fourth in his forearm, which may have pierced his head or neck if he hadn't raised it. Purple wanted to conjure another block for them to shelter behind, but he couldn't put down either of the rods he was using to keep monsters at bay—not entirely successfully, either; his arm was hampered by wounds

Another gargle sounded, and the monsters fell back slightly. Bulbos were chivied into place and weapons brandished. They were lining up for a charge, and behind them, arrows were rattling as they were drawn from quivers. This was it, one last volley, then a push to mop them up for good…

Suddenly, a horn rang loudly throughout the cave, reverberating from wall to wall to ceiling. The monsters paused, turned to look at the mouth of the cave. It was a sight that made the enemies bellow, and the heroes sigh in relief: Red, white, and gold surcoats over shining mail, gleaming swords, spear-tips, and shields. The knights had arrived, entering the cave on foot at a charge. They fell upon the cluster of bulblin archers, scattering or slaying them. Half pressed on when they tried to retreat to a respectable shooting distance, but the other half was directed towards the ranks that faced the Links.

Behind the mailed figures came the scouts, who drew their own bows and rained shafts on the bulblins and moblins before the knights crashed into them.

The quadrifurcated hero shared a look of relief, then a predatory grin as their hands went to the Four Sword once more. The monsters who had harried them were caught in the jaws of a vise. As extraneous weapons were put away and the blade slid free, the squeeze began.

It had turned into a battle of attrition, with the Links being worn steadily down by overwhelming numbers and assaults from too many sides at once. They had taken down perhaps half the monsters in the cave, but would soon have paid for their tenacity. Now it was over quickly. The remaining foes were torn into from two flanks at once. They routed, those who weren't killed turning and running for the exit of the cave. Many of them were picked off by scouts' arrows or knights who'd finished with the bowmonsters. The remaining bulblins on boar-back broke through with the greatest success, and galloped off.

With tremendous relief, the split hero put up their blade and breathed deep. It was stuffy in the cave, and still heavy with the smoke of slain monsters, but they lived.

A knight removed his helm and came towards them: Sir Bornelle. He took in the sight of them—arrows protruding, cuts streaming blood—and said, "Get yourselves fixed up. Where are the prisoners they caught?"

Green pointed tiredly towards the tunnel. "Through there. They're okay."

He nodded, and a pair of knights went for the passage, mail clinking. "That was a stupid, reckless thing you did," he commented to the Links. "But I'm glad you're alive. Now, see to those wounds, you look awful."

Archer, giant, tinker, and mystic trudged out of the cave to breathe fresh air and collapse against a boulder. The knights' horses stood where they'd been dismounted in a hurry (one or two were already starting to graze), and the afternoon sun shone down on them. Blue broke out his medicine kit. They began dressing their hurts, and drinking potion to toast the narrow victory.

**

* * *

AN: It's a monster, but it's complete. Word tells me that not counting my little post-script here, it clocks in nearly 6,000 words. No wonder it took a while to write (that and I had to think about what I'd gotten them into). But it's done, and I'm not breaking this one up.**

Red's line, "Great, him I can _hit_!", is actually a Ben Grimm quote.

How was that? Is the action still handled well? You know how to let me know: drop a review, if you please!


	12. I think there's something we should do

_The Links entered Ganon's stronghold via its secret back door, hoping to aid the villagers captured by his forces. Certain to be discovered at any time, they make the first move on the monsters, causing a bulbo stampede in the cave. When the boars are calmed down, Ganon's troops attack them. Outnumbered, they fight bravely, using the Four Sword's power to temporarily synchronize them more than once. However, against such overwhelming odds, not even that is enough. Just before they can be destroyed, the Hylian Knights finally arrive and turn the tide. Now, they answer to the princess for initiating the assault._

"I have to impress on you," Princess Zelda said, voice level, "how serious what you did was. Your orders were to watch. You could have been killed."

"Innocent people were in danger," said Green. "And we survived." They sat at the table in Hyrule Castle's war room, but the princess was standing, looking down on them severely. None of them looked chastised, not even Blue, who'd argued the strongest with Green against assaulting the cave.

Bornelle had dispatched them back to the castle later in the afternoon, sending a pigeon ahead with his initial report, which included the false start the quadrifurcated hero had initiated. They'd camped on Hyrule Field, then made the rest of the trip and arrived back at the castle mid-morning on this day, and before too long, found themselves here in the war room for their latest admonishment.

Zelda's tone went up a notch as she said, "You survived because the knights arrived in time to pull your fat from the fire, putting their own lives at risk."

"With all due respect, Your Highness," Red spoke up, "What were we supposed to do? Let fifty-odd people be slaughtered and eaten?"

"Is that why they were captured? How do you know?" They were silent and did not meet her eye. "That's why you were there: to find things out, and report. You sent the pigeon to Sir Bornelle, which was right, but you should have waited for orders and support before charging in. And for your information, they were not captured for food." She tossed an unsealed letter into the middle of the table. "They were captured for ransom."

They glanced up at her, then at the letter. Green brought it to himself, unfolded it, and read the contents silently. He didn't get all the way to the end, instead looking up sharply. "He wanted the Triforce?"

"Or they would be executed, yes. That was Ganon's threat." The note was passed to the other Links, who glanced it over with frowns. "He didn't know we'd found the stronghold. He gave us a day, enough time to properly reinforce the knights to make an assault."

Now they looked uncomfortable, frowning at the tabletop. "We did what we thought was right," said Green.

Zelda replied, "I understand that there were wounded. Your concern and bravery are commendable, but they do not excuse rash action and poor judgment. You are under no oath, but I would prefer it if you'd trust me and pay better attention to my orders in the future." Her eyes passed over them, and she lowered herself into her seat. "Now, please tell me more about this mirror, and hearing the King of Evil's voice again."

Blue obliged. "It had to be him. We hadn't heard him that angry before, but it was his voice again. It came out of the mirror… I couldn't tell what it was before, but there was something that looked wrong about it. Like it was this chunk of rock standing upright, but it wasn't, really. When we checked it out again after it was broken, it was just normal glass."

"It's surface had been dark, it looked like there was something inside, and it swirled," supplied Purple. "There was a spell on it, but the aura was almost completely faded away by the time we checked it."

"There's a lot to mirrors," Zelda said. "They can be symbols of truth, or illusion, or vanity. As you know, under the right circumstances, they can be windows, or doorways. It sounds to me like Ganon was able to use this one to get through my storm, at the least. How big was this mirror?"

"Taller than me," answered the tinker.

"Could you have walked through it?" He nodded. "Could a moblin?" He considered, then nodded again.

"A Dark World portal, huh?" asked Green grimly.

"Mirrors that size are uncommon and expensive. That gives us another lead to follow. Impa should be back today with the Wind Waker, and I'll begin working with it. Despite your disregard for orders, you did good work yesterday."

"What about the hostages?" asked Red. "Are they okay?"

"They should be back in Colirveen by now." It was a trading and farming village to the south, very near to Hyrule's southern border. "Sir Bornelle's pigeon said that wagons would be taking them back and assessing any damage done by the raiders, another one should come sometime today with his update." Blue sat forward to peer at the map spread out on the table, focusing on Ordona in the south.

Said Green, "What do we do next, then? If Impa's going to be back soon with the Wind Waker, and we shut down another stronghold, should we get back on Vaati?"

"Indirectly, perhaps," the princess replied. "In my proclamation I advised everyone to stay indoors or in the villages, especially young women. There hasn't been word of any more girls being kidnapped, but there was a monster attack on West Field Village yesterday afternoon."

"Was anyone hurt?" Green wanted to know.

"No. It was a handful of tektites and… this other strange type of creature, it wasn't described very well. They weren't difficult for the knights to handle, but it's still worrisome. There may be more of them to come."

"How?" wondered Purple. "Did they already come through the portal before we destroyed it?"

"I think they're due to Vaati. Monsters have a history of showing up whenever he's making trouble."

Blue's gaze was still locked on the map. He was using his fingers for a scale and pursing his lips.

"What are you looking at?" the agile hero asked him.

"Something's wrong," the thin one replied. "Look, the cave was about here, I think." He tapped the map on a spot near the Ordona road and Glensight. "Colirveen is right here. That's not very far, but every one of those raiders was all dusty. They'd been traveling a long time straight."

The mystic sat forward now as well. "You're right… If they'd've come out of the portal in the cave, the scouts would have seen them."

"So there may be another portal somewhere… But where?" Red asked. One large hand brushed the map as he surveyed it.

"We can backtrack them," said Green. "A group that size, with that many bulbos? We could follow a trail like that in our sleep."

"And when you do, you'll find the portal they used," Zelda said, and nodded. "Will you find it for us? And if it _is_ another mirror, or something else that can be destroyed, please do so. Just stay safe, no risks this time."

"Yes," they chorused.

"Thank you." She bowed her head slightly. "Take pigeons with you and send updates."

* * *

An hour later, the split hero left the castle via the postern, on fresh horses. The plain rolled by while they headed south once more, back towards Glensight, and the cave. They stopped by the barracks to notify Sir Bornelle what they were up to. He told them that the villagers had been safely escorted back to Colirveen, which had sustained moderate damage from the raid. Some homes had been burned, and several had been broken into. Three people had died during the capture and been left at the village: two young men who'd fought back hard, and an elder whose heart had failed when a moblin broke down his door. Most of the other grandparents had successfully hidden from the marauders. Bornelle and the mayor were making arrangements for a shipment of lumber Glensight had donated to be sent to Colirveen so they could begin rebuilding.

Green, Red, Blue, and Purple took their leave and pushed on to the just-vacated campsite. The scouts had broken down the fire ring, but the observation platform still stood in the fir. Perhaps they'd attached to the cavalry who'd come to their rescue yesterday afternoon. The split hero reconstructed the ring and got a fire going, then sat around it. The four ate, and though they were tired from many hours of riding this day, they made no move to bed down yet.

Purple had brought one of his books, which he read by the firelight, but Blue had packed the parts to the project he'd began the other day. It was the small, black iron chassis filled with a clockwork mechanism, with a sort of bowl in its back. It had wheels on its bottom, and some inspiration had made him give it features in yellow paint: two round eyes, whiskers, and a nose. Red watched as he smiled at its completed form, then stepped a bit back from the fire. The tinker hung the lantern from a low-hanging tree branch for extra light and picked up his new 'pet.' It ratcheted as he turned the key in its back a couple of times, winding it up. Then he set it down, and watched as the clockwork rat's wheels spun, carrying it on a weaving but relatively straight path away from him.

"Cute," commented the giant. Its spring wound down and it came to a stop out in the dark. Blue retrieved it, then adjusted something on its underside.

"Thanks," he accepted his burly counterpart's compliment as he wound it again. When he released it this time, its path was curving, circling the fire ring. "Deceptively cute, really."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's designed to carry something, hence the gap in its back."

"Like what? It looks the right size for… Hold on, did you _really_…?"

"Did he really revive the bombchu?" Purple finished for him, not looking up from his book. "Yes. But consider who we're talking about; of course he built something that blows up."

"_That_ didn't blow up," said Blue, pointing up to the lookout perch. "Still, I guess you know me too well."

"That happens when I _am_ you, and you're me."

Red broke in, "Sort of. Because I don't remember ever seeing a bombchu when we were whole, or plans for one, or anything."

"Yeah," said the tinker, "We never did. But we'd heard about them, so I tried building one. With a couple of improvements." His pet had wound down, and he picked it up again. "I can make it move on an arc instead of just a straight line, and it doesn't have to carry a bomb. It could be a smoking potion, or anything, really, doesn't have to be dangerous. I just have to tie it in." He patted the bombchu's head fondly and smiled.

"Your insanity is fascinating," Green spoke up. "But I think there's something we should do before we turn in for the night. It could be really important." He got to his feet and brushed needles off himself.

"What've you got?" Red asked him. The other two set aside their book and pet.

"I've been thinking about how things went in the cave, with the sword, actually. Drawing it probably saved our lives. The thing is, we couldn't use it for very long. Just a few seconds and it was too much. Well, we might need to do that again."

"You want to practice?" said Blue.

"That's right. In the catacomb we kept it up for longer, but when it counted, when we needed it in the middle of a fight, it didn't last. Maybe we can do better."

"What specifically are we practicing?" asked Red.

"The meditating seemed to work well," the tinker suggested.

"All right, then we'll start with that," Green said.

They all formed a circle off to the side of the fire, shared eye contact, and drew the blade. It changed them instantly into the fused form. Moving together, they dropped into a cross-legged position on the ground, sword across their knees again. They closed their blue eyes, and breathed deeply. All their bodies shifted in the same subtle manner, assuming the position for meditation.

It went well at first as they filled their lungs and slowly emptied them, focusing on stillness of mind and body. But soon, they developed a fine furrow between their brows. Their breathing came less and less deeply as the headache intensified, but they held doggedly on to the concentration for three-quarters of a minute more, when their jaw clenched, they groaned, and sheathed the Four Sword.

A sigh was heaved at the same instant they reverted to their distinctive forms. They massaged their heads as the pain dissipated.

"Not bad," said Purple.

Green's suggestion was that they try again, moving this time. They rose to their feet and stood in a line, then drew the weapon once more. The synchronized hero moved slowly through a sword kata, trying to stay in the meditative state as they made a sequence of parries against imaginary attacks, passing to the rear with each block: each hip, each shoulder, and the head. Then they prepared the blade, extended, and lunged—but slowly, still maintaining focus. Next they recovered forward from the lunge and went into cuts, moving from the head down, the reverse sequence against their earlier parries. By the time they made the second cut, the pain was sharp. As soon as the last attack was made, they put up the blade.

On the next attempt they tried a daring move: separate movements. For a moment they stood in a line shoulder-to-shoulder, then with expressions of acute concentration, Green and Purple turned outward and stepped together so they all formed a square, facing front and back. Beads of sweat broke out at this move and they breathed heavily. Such a full range of vision was particularly warping and distracting. When they tried to move again and return to their original rank, the headache spiked, all stumbled, and they hurriedly sheathed the sword.

And that was enough for one day. The headache was coming progressively sooner and sharper, and it lasted longer after the Four Sword was put away. This time, even, it left a low-level throb in the back of their heads. They couldn't say when it finally went away. After the practice, they found themselves too mentally fatigued to concentrate on anything.

"Bedtime for me," declared Red as he stretched and yawned widely.

All were in accord. They banked the fire, blanketed the horses, covered the pigeons, then stretched out on their mats.

"Hey, Blue?" said the giant.

"Uh-huh?"

"We _are_ camped by a stream now. If you wake me up too early tomorrow, I'm throwing you in it."

"Fair enough."

For some time they simply lay in their bedrolls on their backs. Slowly, gently, the headache was soothed by the hypnotic, subtle waving of the trees overhead, the fragrance of forest soil and evergreen needles, the cool night air, the chirping of crickets, and the crackle of the fire. Gradually, they allowed these comforting sensations of home wash over them, and they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The woods delayed sunlight for the split hero in the morning. It had to climb into the sky for a half-hour before it was strong enough to make them stir. But that extra bit of repose seemed to be what they needed, because they felt greatly refreshed and energized when they finally rose. Green built the fire back up. Before they got to their breakfast of hardtack and peaches, Purple led them through his meditative stretching routine. It proved useful for waking and warming their bodies further. It also felt good to find themselves moving in unison, in their unique shapes, without relying on the Four Sword.

Following that, the archer took them through a brief agility drill that got the blood pumping, and they were ready for food. Once they'd eaten, they broke camp, saddled up, and got back on the move.

It was easy to pick up the trail from the cave. They followed it back amongst the trees, where the raiders had turned west off the Ordona road. Even on the packed surface of the road, the marks of cloven bulbo hooves, moblin prints, and tracks from the prisoners walking lockstep in a single-file line combined into a shallow furrow of disturbed earth, with the occasional distinctive sign at the edges. Occasionally overlapping were hoofprints, likely from the knights when they'd gone to Colirveen.

They backtracked the trail south. It went past the spot of the ambush—had it really been only five days ago? The cage-wagon was no longer there, nor were any weapons from lizalfos or moblins killed in that attack. Roughly two-and-a-half hours of riding after that, they came upon Colirveen. The cleanup was underway, and when Green looked carefully, he picked out the fresh graves in the village's cemetery—newly-turned soil, flowers for the dead.

When they stopped in, they were recognized as the 'four brothers' who'd come to their aid the previous day. The villagers paused in breaking down burned-out houses and sorting salvage to greet them. They bore black streaks and gray dustings from working in the charcoal and ash of what had once been homes, but they were gracious in their thanks, and offered them money, goods, trinkets, and victuals in token of their gratitude. But all the split hero would accept was a little fresh food for later and a description of the raid.

It had been a two-pronged attack, they were told. While half the monsters came up the road from the south, overtly visible to the people, the other half had snuck around through the woods and hit them from the other direction. The people had been rounded up in the center of the village, those who'd fought beaten down, those who'd tried to run cut off in their escape by bulbos or stopped with an arrow. When they seemed satisfied with their 'haul,' the monsters had tied them together and driven them up the road to the cave.

The Links split up temporarily to follow the two avenues of attack. The trails joined in the woods, then went back westward, deep into the forest. From here the tracking was tougher over the forest floor, but Green's sharp eyes were more than adequate for picking out the clear trail, and if that failed, the bulbos' scent had been strong enough that Red could follow it for a time.

With the archer leading the way, Blue found that he had little to do. His mind and hands desired something to occupy themselves with. He gave his horse his head and allowed him to follow the others while he began sorting gears and springs in his collection, picking and preparing pieces so he could quickly assemble more bombchus when he had the chance. He remained oblivious to Purple's reproachful looks for his inattentiveness. But after thirty minutes of simply following Green, the mystic seemed to reconsider. He pulled out his book and focused intently on the section that had been his preoccupation the night before.

For some time he stayed that way, reading the page, glowering at it unseeing as he thought over its contents, then reading again. Occasionally he would shape with his hands helplessly, but always went back to reading. After half an hour like this, his horse gave a small stumble, jerking his attention harshly up from the tome.

"Careful, Shorty," came Blue's voice. The tinker had turned in his saddle to look back at the small hero. His materials were stowed in his bag again, and he was holding his reins. "The trail's a little rougher, you might want to put the book away and pay attention."

There was nothing condescending in his tone, but being caught by Blue like that was embarrassing enough to earn him a poisonous glare. The lanky one looked surprised and put off by the look, and turned forward again. Regretting the harshness, Purple sighed, stowed the book, and said, "I don't like it when you call me that" to the tinker. It wasn't the cause for the glare, but it was true. His tone was that of a reasonable explanation.

Blue turned back again and looked at him. "Sorry," he said. "I won't do that any more, then." Purple smiled and tilted his head to him gratefully.

The blue hero had been right about the trail, though. As the four got deeper into the woods, the going got rougher. It wended along and over hills, requiring attention from the riders to protect the horses from rocks, roots, and other obstacles that might trip them. The forest canopy overhead became higher and thicker, until the sky was only visible as glimpses of blue through the great trees and only dim sunlight came down to them. Still the trail led on.

* * *

Midday had passed when the trail wound across the edge of a large, flat meadow. A brook babbled on its far side, and the split hero opted to take a break. They dismounted and changed the horses' bridles for halters, giving them the chance to accept the oats they gave them, drink from the stream, and graze for a bit. The humans took this opportunity to eat as well, munching jerky and a mix of dried fruit and nuts. The food that the citizens of Colirveen had given them they were saving for dinner.

Green ambled over and inspected the trail on foot as he chewed. He commented, "You know, we haven't seen them stop once so far."

"Really?" asked Blue, who had broken out his gears again as he ate. The two slimmer heroes got into a discussion about the endurance and physiology of monsters and whether or not Ganon motivated them somehow. Purple, meanwhile, was back to looking frustrated as he read his book.

"Something wrong?" Red asked him.

The child shook his head, partially in exasperation, partially in response to the question. "It's just this spell giving me a little bit of trouble, nothing to worry about."

"No, come on, tell me about it," the giant said. "Maybe it'll help, you never know."

"I can get it, don't worry about me."

"Have you tried explaining it to anyone yet? Come on, tell me, it might help it click."

Purple sighed and rubbed his face. "All right. It seems simple enough, but I can't get my head around its main element. Look here." He showed the spell's diagram to the giant. "It should have a protective effect, guarding the skin, but I must be looking at it wrong or something because I haven't been able to get it."

Red sat forward intently and traced one of the runes with a fingertip. His lips moved silently, forming some of the incantation, then he tapped another mark. "That's for a gesture, isn't it?"

"The gestures aren't the problem, it's something about the intention."

"I know, but what does it look like?"

The mystic looked at him. "Why? You think you can do it?"

"I don't know. Maybe. There's something about it… Show it to me."

The violet hero led his crimson counterpart through the casting, helping him with the enunciation and shaping of his hands. Inside he held a hint of reservation. Red's voice strengthened as he repeated its incantation and his gestures sharpened. After several times without Purple guiding him, he got to his feet, took a breath, and launched into the spell's casting.

Purple watched in surprise as the enchantment finally moved. The giant's form took on a red inner glow for just a moment, then the magic was done. His skin had changed color to nearly match his tunic. It had also taken on a faint reflective sheen and somehow didn't show the definition of his muscles as well.

He looked down at himself, turning and flexing his hands, then raised a smile to Purple, who was still staring.

"I've been trying to figure out that spell for two days, and you managed it in no time. How?"

"I'm sorry. It just… struck a chord or something."

Blue and Green's attention had been attracted by the giant's voice, and they were coming over. "Maybe it's the curse?" the tinker guessed as he poked curiously at the strong one's reddened skin. "Maybe you didn't get _all_ the magic when we split, or the potential, or something."

"Throw something at me," Red said to his lanky companion. "I want to see how this works."

They moved off slightly, and the giant offered himself as a target for small rocks that Blue pitched at him. He couldn't feel the impacts on his chest at all as Blue threw with more and more force. Finally the tinker threw a large stone shot-put-style at him from a relatively close range and struck his shoulder.

"That one _did_ hurt," he said as he rubbed the impact. Suddenly his skin's redness faded away, leaving a budding bruise on his shoulder.

"If I'd hit you in the head without the spell it probably would've killed you," Blue said to him. "Want to try it again?"

Said Green, "Actually, I think we should try the sword once and then get back on the trail. We've been stopped for a while."

The four formed a rank, took a breath, and slid the Four Sword from its scabbard. They allowed the transformation and connection to wash over them. For several seconds they remained still, absorbing the sensations of the meadow from four bodies at once, simply seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling.

Then they began to move, slowly and gracefully, through the meditative sword form. When they completed it, the warped feeling was steady, but not yet distracting, and they continued moving. They had passed to the rear with the phrase of parries. Now they came forward with the attack kata faster and more aggressively. When they recovered from the last thrust, they went into footwork, passing, retreating, advancing, sidestepping, fleching, and lunging. They made a thwart to the right, then Purple and Green turned outward and slid in, forming the square once again. At this the strain increased. But as they held the position, their mind acclimated to it, and the pain actually dipped. For another couple of seconds they stayed that way, facing front and back. Then, before the headache could become too much, they flourished and sheathed the blade.

"_That_," said Blue as the guard clacked into place against the scabbard's mouth, "felt like _progress_."

"I'm inclined to agree," said Green with a pleased grin. "Looking forward to practicing some more tonight."

"Let's get moving, then," the child declared. He stowed his book and went for his horse across the meadow.

* * *

They left the sunshine of the meadow at noon for the dimness of the woods, once more following the trail of the raiders on the forest path. Their riding order was the same as earlier, but after a short time in the saddle Purple and Blue followed at a small distance and spoke in quiet tones. Green, still having no trouble following the trail, caught Red's expression when he glanced back.

"You look troubled," he said.

His large companion sighed. "I think Purple might be mad at me for that," he murmured, aware of the mystic's keen ears.

"Like you stole his thunder?"

"Basically, yeah." He raised a ham-like hand helplessly. "He asked for my help, and I got carried away and showed him up. I don't know what came over me, but the spell just… jumped out at me. I couldn't help it."

"Well… If he's jealous of one spell you managed, that's his problem, not yours, really. Just explain yourself to him, and offer to help him manage the casting. Just, you know, be diplomatic about it."

"Maybe he _should_ be jealous. He's the magic user, it's his territory."

Green shook his head. "That's something I've been thinking about, and I'm not so sure. See, those two are smart, but _we_ aren't stupid. I may be fast, but so's everyone else, you included. You're built like a brick, but we aren't weak. Yeah, Blue's a beanpole, but he's actually pretty strong, even without the bracelet. I think Stretch was right, and he didn't get all the magic. The lion's share, sure, but not _all_ of it."

The giant looked thoughtful. "I see what you mean."

A half-jesting grin came over the agile hero's face. "And when he's back in a good mood, I'll ask him if there's any spells that _I_ might be able to cast."

Red's mouth crooked wryly. "Oh, I see what it is. You just want some magic of your own, that's the only reason you're giving me advice."

The archer made his face go straight and shrugged. "At least I'm up-front about it. I could be pretending to help him while I serve my own desire for power."

The strong hero charley-horsed him in the arm.

**

* * *

**

**AN:** Ye gods… I can't stop myself from writing these chapters that need split up. When "Chapter 12" was completed, it was nearly 9,000 words. I couldn't bring myself to let it stay that big. It had been written as one thing, so I don't know if I chose a good spot to end it. But no double-update this time; it seemed to make Chapter 5 get neglected, because 6 has more views. Odd, because the hit count tapers down in the later chapters; I attribute it to the double update.

Need to get this thing about snowballing chapters under control. I'm one who prides himself on his succinctness, after all. On the other hand, I'm faithfully reading Sunruner's _Matters of State_, and that tale has long chapters that I don't mind reading in the least. As of her update today, it's twelve chapters and 78,934 words. I'm at sixteen chapters and about 70,000 words. She's got me dead beat in volume, and manages to put chapters up with much greater frequency than me (like I've said in reviews, Sunny, I'm in awe of you). Anyway! The length of the chapters of _Matters_ doesn't bother me. I don't claim to be as entertaining as her, but I feel myself dropping compunctions about writing long.

I've been trying something new, hoping to draw more readers in: putting a condensed version of the little 'Previously, on _Divide and Conquer_' up as the summary. Are _you_ a reader that bit at that? Are you glad it made you check it out? I hope so!

At any rate, please review, and if you have friends who might enjoy this story, I'd love for you to recommend it to them!


	13. Don't make any dust

_Where did the raiders who captured the villagers come from? That's the question the Links need to answer now, and the reason they're back in the Faron Woods. The split hero is backtracking the monsters, hoping to find the Dark World portal they used, and if possible, destroy it to cut off Ganon's invasion of Hyrule._

The trail led them on through the forest. Blue wondered aloud if the monsters had actually managed to navigate the Lost Woods as they got even deeper. They had only rarely been this far into the sylvan landscape with its huge, uniquely-shaped trees and barest glimpses of daylight, and never for long. It was dangerous to be here, even for a longtime ranger at home in the area, for predators grew large and bold. The Lost Woods represented a special hazard. Their fuzzy border with the Faron Woods (which merely had oversized and hungry wolves, rats, mountain lions, and stranger creatures, besides territorial elk and other animals normally considered prey) could be crossed unwittingly, leaving the trespasser subject to protective spirits and enchantments that disoriented almost all comers, skeletal stal-creatures, and the very will of the Woods.

The trail brought them close; they could feel it in the air and hear it in the eerie quiet that fell from the trees, but their path diverted, skirting more to the south, away from the dangerous woods. It made them breathe a little easier.

Eventually, when the daylight began to fail, the trees started to thin. The split hero had passed more than halfway through the forest, but before they found where the trail was leading them, they'd have to camp once more. They picked a site, less comfortable than the previous night's, but adequate, and set it up. Soon they were making the horses and pigeons comfortable, and the meat from Colirveen was spitted over the fire—a nice change from jerky. They ate the slightly-honeyed biscuits while it roasted.

Once dinner was complete, Green received his lesson in magic from Purple. Together they found a spell in the book. The archer followed his direction diligently, and made inroads on the incantation, but could not achieve the spell completely at that time. The violet hero recommended they give it a rest for the day to try again tomorrow, and the four moved on to the sword. They began with meditation again, with great success. It was easier now to accept the new perspective, and the headache was imperceptible. They could stay quiet and still like this indefinitely.

All that was left was the challenge of movement. They practiced shifting from rank to square to circle to line, several times, until the headache was finally too much. On the next attempt they began with attacks. After the first sequence, they took a moment to breathe, then started to attack in pairs. Two would cut at one imaginary target while the others would thrust. The pain became acute after only a few of those, but still feeling bold, they separated, pressing assaults in two different directions. Then the strain was enough, and they put up the blade again. To finish the night's practice session, they moved in easy synchronization through a footwork drill.

Besides the insistent throb in the back of the head when they returned to their unique forms, their muscles were also sore. The workout hadn't been strenuous; it was probably due to spending the day in the saddle. After winding down for a short while, they retired for the night.

They set out the next morning after another fused meditation, this one done with all of them facing out in a circle, then breakfast. Onward the trail led them, becoming easier going as they left wooded high ground, allowing them to push on into a trot until the forest had thinned and then fell behind them completely by midmorning.

The forest's western border was on the windward side of the mountain ridge between Hyrule and the Gerudo Desert; on its northern fringe it simply thinned until it was no more, segueing into the field. The path had turned to their right, away from the mountains, and led them back out onto the plain. Lake Hylia lay somewhere north-northeast of them.

Having just left the forest, it was a good time to send an update. Blue wrote the note:

'_Princess Zelda: Backtracked monsters from the cave to Colirveen, then westward through Faron Woods. Have just left Woods, trail is going north along border of Gerudo Desert. Still following_. _–4 _'

He tied the slip of paper onto the leg of one of the pigeons, stroked its head, and released it. Off it went, wings whirring, flying north and east in the direction of the castle.

The trail struck off dead north for a couple of hours, then diverted west again. It crossed over the mountains by a wide pass and took them into the arid Gerudo. North of the lake, Hyrule Field was divided from the desert by a sheer river gorge instead of the mountains. The river ran this far south and traced the leeward foot of the mountains, but it calmed and slowed, carving valleys through the scrubby foothills. Within their sight, many miles downstream, it changed to an underground river beneath dry ravines. When the split hero crested the pass, they were afforded a breathtaking view of the desert.

Near to them were the red hills and canyons peppered with hardy desert bushes and cacti. The layers of the earth were visible on the sharper valley walls that faced them in gray and red and yellow. Beyond that chaparral were the trackless, sun-baked sand dunes that rolled and stretched west as far as the eye could see, known as the Desert of Mystery, or by the older name of the Haunted Wasteland.

It was warm, with the early summer sun coming straight down on them from the clear sky. When they looked down onto the desert, the air shimmered in a mirage. Wind at their backs cooled their skin and fluttered their hair and clothing, but they pressed on, following the trail as it switchbacked and angled down the mountains. The afternoon wore on. A jutting stone bridge spanned the river-carved cleft, seemingly a natural phenomenon of erosion that had been enhanced centuries ago by human hands for strength and durability, and their path led them over it. Far below ran the mud-colored river on its way to slower flow in the south.

Tracking became more difficult in the desert. No trees protected the sign from the strong winds, and it was getting older and older the farther they followed it. Green would have to examine the rocky soil carefully to keep them on track, but the fact remained that it had been a large party of heavy creatures that left obvious sign.

Sunset was brilliant in the Gerudo. The horizon over the western sea of dunes was painted in rose, gold, and orange as the sun took its leave for the day. They made camp just to witness and honor this fleeting moment of peace and beauty in the desolate scrublands. The trail followed the river gorge, up towards Snowpeak. By now they'd left the last northern reaches of the mountains they'd crossed and had a view of the lake and the plain to the east, with Death Mountain's shape just a phantom through the haze. How green and abundant seemed Hyrule when they looked on it from here.

Shortly they gave themselves over to care of their animals and nightly practice with the Four Sword, and the desert night overtook them with its surprising, bitter chill after the heat of the day, and the firm, grit-laden breeze that blew off the dunes. Fuel for their campfire was fast-burning and pungent dead brush they gathered from around the camp. The wind made the flames dance and cast sparks up at a sky scattered with bright stars. A moon that was getting smaller and smaller with the passing of the month finally succeeded the sun. By its light and the glow of the fire, Green was studying the spellbook.

"I'm _still_ missing something," he said, frustrated as he peered at the spell's diagram.

Purple smiled wryly. "Now you know my pain."

"Okay, okay. Never let me give you grief about using magic, I am humbled before you, O Purple Sorcerer."

"I was joking. Here." He reached over and took the book out of Green's hands. "You can get this. You just need to let it happen now." The archer started to protest and make an attempt to reclaim the tome, but the mystic held him back.

"_Relax_," he said firmly. "Look, sit back and take a breath. Close your eyes. Let the air fall in… And let it fall out, slowly. Take a few more, and let your mind be still for a moment." The child closed the book and set it at his side. Blue had completed assembly on his third bombchu on the other side of the fire, and he absently polished the mechanism as he watched the lesson. Red was rolling a twig from the firewood between his fingers and breathing in its smell as he, too, watched.

The small hero's violet gaze focused on his lithe companion, and after a short time in thought he began to speak. "Let your mind go back. Let it go back to the time before we split. Remember the feeling in our body, of strength, and grace, and the space we occupied… Remember our hands. Remember our feet. Remember our eyes moving in our head, and our lips and mouth…" His own eyes drifted shut. The two taller Links were still and silent, transfixed. "Now, think back, to the first time we used magic: the charm, to help protect from the cold. Remember the shaman in Ordon giving it to us. Remember his face, his hands. Recall the lesson he imparted: magic must be used with the utmost respect and care, even a minor charm like this, and he felt we were worthy. Remember that feeling of pride that gave us, and the way his house smelled."

He paused, half-opening his eyes, looking on Green's placid expression touched by the orange light of the fire. The mystic continued. "Remember, he told us the way to prepare for a spell: ground yourself, let your mind be still for a moment. Then acknowledge the power in yourself and in the world that you're about to use. Call it up with your will. Salute it, thank it for being there, and then ask it to work through you. Recall how we did these things, and then asking the magic to flow into the charm. Remember how that felt… That tingle that started in our heart, our mind, our core… Remember it moving out of us, into the charm in our hands. Recall how warm it felt, and when we opened our eyes, the way it glowed… That faint yellow light, and how we were pleased that we'd accomplished this.

"Now think ahead from there, to when we learned our first spell. Remember the shaman's lesson coming back to us, taking that deep breath and everything else he told us… Remember thanking him, and the fairy that taught us… And finally, remember how the spell felt when we cast it, the tingle consuming us, our mind almost seeming to float away as it changed us… Hold on to that memory for a moment, and breathe, and feel it again… Now slowly come back to your body, to here and now. Take your time, and bring those feelings with you."

Gradually, Green resurfaced, his posture shifting a bit at a time until he opened his eyes, looked down at himself, then over at the fire, then to Purple. "I remember that…" he said.

The small hero nodded, rose to his feet, and gestured for the archer to do the same. "Now, try it again, doing and feeling everything you remembered."

Green let out a breath and squeezed his hands together. He closed his eyes in stillness for a moment, then opened them, made the gestures and spoke the syllables as he'd practiced them. When it was finished he made no move, but just as his companions began to feel disappointment, the magic flowed, and he grinned suddenly. "_Yes_!" He raised a triumphant fist, gathered his legs under him, and leapt for joy—and kept leaping, rising high into the air before landing in an easy crouch. The horses shifted and looked at him as he turned away from the fire, took two steps to start, and jumped as far as Red had when he'd leapt the chasm in the cave. He whooped, turned a somersault and sequence of handsprings back towards the camp, and finished with a high, hair-raising quadruple backflip to land back at the fireside with a flourish and pose.

His companions applauded and smiled. "All right!" cried Blue.

The archer was already back at the book, leafing through it excitedly. "There was another one that looked good… Here!" He pored over the diagram, then settled down with it in his lap. After several minutes he nodded to himself and began practicing its incantation. The moon turned overhead and the fire crackled as he studied, then he raised his face from the page. "Thank you," he said to Purple, then laid aside the book and got up again.

"You're welcome. You've got it already?"

"Let's see." Green unslung his bow and nocked an arrow. He turned out to the empty scrub, took another breath, and raised the bow. As he drew it back he spoke the Old Hylian words, causing the arrowhead to glow red and emit faint traces of flame. Then he loosed it, and the imbued arrow sped out into the night like a firefly or shooting star. It was barely visible as a glowing red bead when it finally returned to the earth. When it did, there was a small explosion of flame.

"Fire arrow," said Red, eyebrows rising.

Commented Purple, "You got that one quickly."

The archer grinned and nocked another shaft. "I guess I just needed a nudge." He spoke similar but different words as he drew the second arrow. This one's quarrel glowed white-blue and let off wisps of vapor before he let it fly. It landed where the previous one had, albeit with a less visually spectacular flight and impact, but the stars and moon gleamed off the spread of ice the arrow had conjured.

"Ooh, headache," Green said as he lowered the bow. "I guess that's my limit today."

"Yeah, it's getting late," Blue said. "More tracking tomorrow, huh? They sure took the long way around."

The split hero stoked the fire, putting on the largest and densest pieces of fuel they'd been able to find, but it was still likely that it would be burned out in the morning without the faintest embers for them to wake up to. As it flickered lower and lower, they went to sleep under the clear desert sky. They would send another pigeon in the morning, then get back on the trail.

* * *

"Snowpeak, huh?" said the tinker as the horses clopped on. 

"That's what it looks like," replied Green, in the lead as usual, eyes on the fading trail.

"Never seen it from the desert side… Well, I hope there'll be streams on it, we need the water. I could go for cooler mountain air, too."

The huge mountain was rising before them. Its windward face, towards Hyrule, bore evergreens until its higher slopes. Snow lasted a long time upon it, though all had melted by now, except for the permanent glacier on the northern slope, sometimes visible as a gleam. Looking on it from the desert, it was much more lacking in vegetation, but had a smoothness from the Gerudo's sandblasting winds. Now they were coming upon its foothills, with the chaparral becoming more 'verdant,' with rare low, gnarled pines that had more resemblance to shrubs.

"I wonder how everything's going at the castle…" stated Blue. "You think this is going to be the end of the trail, or we're going even farther?"

"I don't know," the slim hero answered patiently.

"You're talkative this morning," Red said to the tinker.

He shrugged. "I guess I'm bored… We're more than two days on the trail and three away from Castle Town. I mean, it's nice to not be cooped up there, don't get me wrong on that."

"But you're worried what Ganon's getting up to."

"Yeah. I'm also out of good parts now, so there's nothing to keep me busy."

"Well, try to think of something other than bugging Green, he needs to concentrate." At this comment of Red's, the archer himself raised a hand absently in thanks, eyes still down.

Purple asked Blue, "Want to look for a spell?"

"I don't know… I'm pretty sure I got the least magic out of all of us. When you were talking to Green last night I hardly remembered any of that about the shaman."

"Interesting… What _do_ you remember?"

The tinker scratched the back of his head in thought for a moment. "Stories… Little things people said to us… How warm it was on those days… I don't know, weird stuff."

"Well, why don't you tell a story?" asked Purple. "That might keep you busy."

"I guess I could do that. Let me think of something…" He shifted to sit back in the saddle slightly and tilted his head back as he recalled. "Okay, this one's pretty good. There was this thief, he had a hideout in a cave on Death Mountain. He wasn't a very good thief, but somehow he was dead lucky."

"I guess he needed to be, with his skills?" asked Red.

"Yeah, how long to lousy thieves live? Anyway, a bird told him about an old gambler he'd seen near a pond not too far from the sea cliffs, and he decided he wanted to meet this guy. Maybe he could beat the pants off him at the shell game, and if not, he could try to rob him. So he left his hideout, and started east. About a third of the way there, he came across something in the road."

"Fresh tracks," said Green.

"Huh? No, it was a box, and—"

"No, no," said the archer again, firmly. He'd reined in his horse, and was slipping his foot out of his stirrup to dismount. "Fresh tracks."

They halted their mounts as he dropped to the ground and crouched, looking down at the prints. "I think they're from yesterday." Now they could see the trail he indicated, headed off in a new direction—towards Hyrule, and the bridge over the river gorge. "Moblins… Some other kind of humanoid monster, too, but I don't know what."

"How many?" asked Blue, chewing his lip.

"… Enough to be trouble."

"Blast," grumbled Red, nudging his horse forward to look down at the tracks. "Do we follow them before they do any damage?"

"We need to stop them at the source," said the child. "I don't feel good about them roaming around, either, but—"

Green sucked in a breath sharply. He had raised his gaze, following the trail with his eyes towards Snowpeak. "There's more coming out of a valley, I can see them. Hide!"

"Where?" Red demanded. "It's the middle of the desert!"

"Maybe those boulders, there. Come on, there's a lot of them, we need to move!" He was climbing back up into the saddle, looking at the pair of large rocks near a low, scrubby pine, some two hundred yards away.

"Wait, wait, the tracks!" said Blue, looking down at the clear hoofprints they'd left near the trail. "If they're using that same path, they'll see them." He jumped down from the saddle and looked about quickly. His eyes fell on a stickery desert bush, and he dashed over to reach through its branches. His hand got poked, but he grabbed it near the ground and pulled it up by the roots, then ran over to the tracks. Using his bush as an impromptu broom, he swept over their sign.

"Hurry it up, Stretch," said the archer, jaw gritted as he looked out towards the column of monsters. Blue was moving backwards away from the trail, obscuring as he went. A few more scuffs, and he threw the bush away and clambered back onto his horse.

"Don't make any dust; they're liable to see us," Green said. "Canter."

It was a painful balance between trying to get out of sight and not giving themselves away. The quadrifurcated hero rode as fast as they dared for their chosen shelter, Green looking back at the monsters periodically. Now the other three could see the company of enemies as a distant smudge.

They made it to the tree and the two boulders, but they offered only scant screening for four horses and humans. "Blast it," the archer said, "where's a blind when you need one?"

"We'll make one!" answered Blue, jumping down. "If we move that boulder against the other, that'll help. Red, give me a hand!"

Together, they shoved the boulders into place close to the pine. "They're getting close," Green said tersely. He and Purple had dismounted and chivied the horses together behind their shelter.

It still wasn't enough to hide them well. The tinker grimaced, looking around frantically. "If there were some bigger bushes… Ah!" He rushed to one side of the boulders, dropped his bag, and began pulling out the poles of his scaffold. "Pull up some big bushes, as many as you can. We'll pile them up around this." In seconds he's erected the scaffold's frame up to head-height and went to help them yank up the thorny, low-growing shrubs. They piled them up as naturally as they could, using the frame to support their impromptu blind. Blue kept trying to put 'finishing touches' on it until Red came around the shelter and dragged him bodily into hiding.

Purple soothed the horses with words and hands, holding onto all four of their reins as they stood side-to-side with the boulders between them and the trail, the pine's needles brushing the saddles on their backs. Red and Blue peered through the scant gap between the rocks, and Green looked through the spiky bushes they'd piled, brow furrowed and fingers crossed. The tree provided some shade against the beating sun, but nevertheless they sweated and hardly dared to breathe.

It was a large party of monsters: lizalfos on foot, and bulblin cavalry, about eighty altogether. They were passing the spot the heroes had spotted them at, and seemed to be following the same route Green had found. On they marched in single-file, towards Hyrule, giving their hiding spot hardly a glance.

It took thirty minutes for the column to get out of sight. Finally the Links let out a sigh and slumped against the boulders.

"Too close," said Blue.

"They looked fresh," the lithe Link observed. "Not much dust on them. We must be close to the portal." He climbed up onto a boulder to look towards the Snowpeak foothills they'd come out of.

"And they're going straight into Hyrule," Red said. He looked at the tinker. "Send the pigeon, we need to get the Knights on this _now_."

The skinny one nodded, and wrote the note urgently: '_Princess Zelda: Big news! We just saw eighty lizalfos and mounted bulblins marching for Hyrule. We're still in the desert, near Snowpeak. We think the portal is there, and are heading there now to destroy it. Advise intercepting the monsters as soon as possible near Lake Hylia. This is the last pigeon we have, we'll get in touch as soon as possible when the portal is taken care of. Hoping everything is all right. –4_'

He bound it to the pigeon's leg, and gave the bird a drink of water and a little seed as he stroked its head. "All right, you. I want you to fly fast now, okay? You've got an important job to do, get to the castle as quick as you can." The tinker released the bird, and watched it wing off towards Hyrule. Then he broke down and re-packed his scaffold.

"Ready?" Green asked the group at large. "We might see more before we get to the portal, and it might be guarded, too. Stay sharp."

"Let's go, then," said Red. The split hero mounted up and galloped for Snowpeak, jaws set, aware of the weight of their task.

**

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**AN:** Second half of the 9K Beast that was "Chapter 12." If the passages on the Gerudo Desert seem… perhaps affectionately written, there's a reason for that. I grew up in southern Nevada, and deserts have a special place in my heart. They're not all endless sand dunes, and the sunsets are brilliant.

The split hero's powers continue to grow, and I've been looking forward to doing this next chapter… You may love it, you may hate it, but either way let's see if I can keep things under control, size-wise.

Chapter 17 was _very_ stubborn about being written, hence the long delay between updates (nearly a month). Hope the next one will be more downhill.

Reviews are encouraged, as always!


	14. We just destroyed the way home!

_The monsters' trail has led the split hero westward through the Faron Woods, then north, into the Gerudo Desert. Along the way, they further explore and practice their powers with the Four Sword. They follow the trail further north to the vicinity of the Snowpeak, where they see with their own eyes fresh troops of Ganon's marching out of a valley and making towards Hyrule. A warning is sent to the princess with their last homing pigeon. The split hero now seeks to find and destroy the portal before anyone else can join the invasion._

Snowpeak's foothills weren't nearly as well-forested as the Links would have liked; the cover would have been welcome. As it was, they kept a weather eye out for hostiles as the rode hard into a valley. The company of monsters they'd hidden from had marched and rode out of the adjoining valley, and they needed to sneak over to look for the portal. It would also be a good idea to stash their horses away while they worked. There was a spring. During the thaw, with the snow melting off the mountain, it looked like it fed a stream that ran all the way down to the river gorge. They slipped the bridles off their mounts and turned them loose to drink from the spring and graze on the grass and reeds surrounding it, and prepared to make their way over the ridge.

It was steep going in most places. They climbed angled uphill, boots and hands finding purchase for the hike. Green kept his eyes up for sentries, letting the others pick their route. They reached the heather-covered top of the ridge, where the wind was strong in their faces. But it was no time to take in the feeling or the view; the heroes inched their way forward to look down at their destination, cautious of enemy eyes still.

Sure enough—moblins, down on the floor of this steep-walled gash, about twenty of them. They weren't particularly vigilant with no reason to suspect trouble coming, but they weren't napping, either. They sat with their spears leaning on their shoulders and spoke in their own language, but they did not eat or play at dice or enjoy other distractions.

Up at the ravine, about five hundred feet away, they caught sight of their target: another tall and wide mirror standing in its ornate rectangular frame, surface dark, flanked with braziers as the first one had been. Two moblins stood near it as well, hurling spears at a tree to occupy themselves. It was well-chewed by the force and accuracy of their throws, and unfortunately, the quadrifurcated hero was downrange, so their eyes were pointed in their direction.

Quickly they slipped back, putting the lip of the ridge between them and the gaze of the moblins. Said Red, "Well, there it is. How about we get around behind the mirror, take care of those two, break it, and get out of here?"

"I'm game," agreed the thin hero.

It was slow going, making their way up past the head of the ridge, and across the mountain's shoulder. Green's eyes were constantly on the moblins down in the distance; he needed warnings about his footing. The last thing they wanted to do was to send rocks rolling down the mountainside to alert the enemies while they were out of bowshot. Finally they got around behind them, moving closer when their backs were turned to throw, and pausing behind trees when one turned back to the throwing line after retrieving the weapons.

Now they were close, down on the valley floor behind the sentries. The giant whispered, "I'll sneak up on one. Shoot the other when he's over getting spears." He drew his hammer and gripped it resolutely. Green pulled out his bow, Purple his ice rod, and they watched for their chance.

A moblin hurled the last spear. It hit square, apparently on what they were considering their target, because the monster turned to its fellow, laughing and raising its fists in triumph. It pointed downrange, and the loser waved a disgusted hand at it, then trudged over towards the tree. Red looked at the others, nodded, and broke cover.

It still impressed his companions how someone of his size and bulk could still be quick. He wasn't as stealthy as the nimble Green, but he was quiet enough to move up on the triumphant moblin without it noticing. Then he rose upright and swung the hammer laterally into its lower back, knocking it onto its face with a _thump_ and a grunt. As it landed, he pounced on the moblin, finishing it with one crushing blow.

Its fellow turned at the sound. Red had been wise enough to crouch, for a ray of blue magic streaked out, hitting the monster in its face and freezing its jaw before it could shout the alarm. Then three arrows loosed at once buried themselves in its chest, it staggered, and pitched over. One after the other they vanished loudly with puffs of smoke.

Green, Blue, and Purple jogged out from behind the tree. "Piece of cake," said the large hero in a low voice, still aware of the monsters down the valley. He turned towards the mirror and patted the head of his hammer. "Let's do this."

"Wait," the tinker forestalled him with a hand on his elbow. "They'll probably hear the glass breaking, we'll destroy it from a distance and run for it."

"All right, good point." He put the maul away, and together they started for the ridge between them and their horses. At the foot of it, Blue turned back and extracted a bomb.

"Why that?" Red asked him. "They're sure to hear it. You could throw a rock from even farther away, or Green could shoot it."

"I'll feel better knowing it's been bombed, not just broken. Okay, compromise." He pulled out one of his bombchus, placed the unlit bomb in its back, and continued some distance up the ridge. There he stopped to wind up the device and lined up its path straight to the mirror. "Okay, buddy, this is what you were made for," he said to the clockwork rodent. His fingernails tugged on the fuse, and he released it. It rolled away rapidly, explosive hissing. "Made daddy proud," he whispered after it, missing the uncomfortable look that passed over Red's face behind his back.

Unable to tear themselves away, they watched the cheerily-rolling device run down the hill with its deadly payload. The sunlight gleamed slightly on its black carapace and on the dark mirror, and the wind brought the smell of the burning fuse to their noses. Blue's timing was good, for right at the foot of the mirror, the bombchu went off with a boom.

The mirror's surface spiderwebbed with cracks at once and its frame warped, but it did not shatter instantly. Instead the cracks flared a violent yellow-white. With an ominous whining, its face began to glow.

Blue and Purple were about to comment in troubled voices that the mirror in the cave hadn't done this, when all four of them were struck with lightning. It arced out of the portal and touched them in the chests. For just a moment they were filled with pain, and an unfortunately familiar sensation of being pulled forward by a river. Blinded, warped, dazed, and helpless, they lost all sense for a few seconds in the vertigo and flight.

When it passed, ache permeated their bodies, and they would not be surprised if they were smoking slightly.

Green groaned, lying on his back, head still spinning. Dizzily, he said, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting _really_ tired of being sucked into portals like this."

"Yeah," growled Red, the sound making the archer blink. Something was wrong…

He tried to sit up and look at his burly companion, and was amazed at his sudden disorientation. There was an odd brushing sensation and rustling noise as he struggled to roll upright. Then he saw them: feathers. Why were there feathers when he saw his arms?

A sinking sensation entered his stomach, and he looked up. His companions were not around him. In their place, were other things. A ball of feathers ruffled itself into the shape of a small, horned owl, dark-purple its plumage except for a white breast and throat, and black tips to its wing and tail feathers. Its large eyes were violet when it looked at him. Beside the owl was a hulking and hump-shouldered bear, its coat red and brown. Movement in the corner of his eye attracted his attention. His head jerked to that side, and he thought for maybe a moment that his thin, begoggled counterpart was still with him. But instead it was a long-armed, black-blue-haired ape that sat up and gaped around.

"You're _kidding_ me," it said, with Blue's voice, large lips forming the words. Green looked down at himself, and saw yellow-scaled, taloned feet and wide wings. He himself was in the shape of a falcon. The feathers of his dorsal surface and hood were dark green, his underside yellow-white, barred with green.

The tinker-turned-primate got to his feet, head tilted back to the sky. Thick, churning clouds obscured most of it, sheet lightning flickering frequently amongst them, but where the firmament was visible, it was a goldenrod yellow. His eyes dropped back down to the earth, and he noticed the twisted and nigh-lifeless stakes that were supposed to be trees. The soil was gray, and a haze of brown grass grew low to the ground here and there. "I don't believe it…" he said. "We're in the Dark World."

"The mirror was a trap," spoke the owl, giving his feathers a frustrated puff. "That had to be it. We sprung it when we broke it." Waving as he walked on taloned feet, he made his way to the shining shards of glass that lay heaped in a pile.

"First he splits me, and now he turns me into a bird," said Green, literally swelling in anger as his quills and hackles stood up. "I thought I was mad before, but now…"

"Hey, at least we're alive," the bear reminded him, sitting on his haunches and looking about.

"Alive, maybe, but _now_ what? We just destroyed the way home!"

"Green, simmer down," said the bear.

"Why? You got a plan already?"

"Green, please," said Purple, nudging awkwardly through the mirror's smoking debris with his beak.

The ape knuckled over. "Here, let me help you with that, I've still got hands." He carefully picked up splinters of glass and set them aside.

"Thanks…" The peregrine had started to argue with the grizzly, making Purple's eyes slit. He pivoted his head around over his shoulder and shouted, "Green! Please, be quiet for a minute. I need to concentrate."

His face turned back around to the glass, and the ape told him, "That was disturbing."

"What?"

"That thing you did with your head."

"Sorry… There was a spell on the mirror."

"Um… We knew that already from the one in the cave." Purple's head twisted purposefully around to glare at him. "Yeegh! Stop doing that!"

"Don't impugn my memory. I meant a different spell."

"Well, it must be from the trap, or maybe it's different on this side of—What's this thing?" Blue held up between his ape's fingers a chip of some sort. It looked like it was part of an orb that had been shattered, very smooth and iridescent white. Possibly, it was the brightest thing there was in this twisted place. Its inner angles were marked with fine and even graduations that somehow reminded the transformed heroes of a tree's age lines, or the layers of an onion.

"Loaded with magic, is what it is," replied the owl, eyes opening a little wider as he looked at it. "That's the source I sensed… There's another one, there." Blue picked the other piece out of the glass and held it in his palm for the mystic to examine. "I've got an idea what it was, but there was another spell placed on it," said Purple. "It's fading so quickly, though… Why do I keep coming across these things too late?"

"Couldn't tell you. Just our luck, maybe." The ape held the two pieces against each other, but they wouldn't fit together. "You can still sense the magic, though?"

"Seems that way."

"What about your spells?"

His beak formed an incantation and his claw tried to make the gestures, but he shook his head. "No good. I can't get the moves right, and the focus doesn't want to come."

Said the falcon, "Can we talk about what we're going to do next now? We need to decide something."

Purple's eyes narrowed and he waddled around to face Green and Red. The bear heaved a sigh as he saw his expression. "Purple, come on. He's right, and—"

"Shhh," the mystic interrupted. He shifted his head to the side, then launched forward and beat his wings. He flew around the top of one of the stunted parodies of pine trees, and immediately, he glided back down to them. "There's monsters coming, another group like the last," he hissed. "We need to get out of here."

"Blast," growled Red, lumbering upright. "You two fly out of here, we'll hide somewhere."

"The trees are thick that way," said Purple, pointing down the valley's right-hand wall with his wing. "They're coming up the other side."

"We'll find a good place to hide from above," Green said, stretching his wings and heaving into the air along with the owl.

"Don't let them see you, either," the tinker warned as he knuckled hurriedly towards the tree line. He was soon overtaken by Red. With no foliage to the trees, they would have to put more distance than normal between themselves and the enemy to avoid being spotted.

As grizzly and primate hugged their wall of the valley, the birds caught a draft whistling down off the mountain and rode it along the ridge. Green climbed higher and glided, turning his eyes down on the earth below. They were even sharper than they'd been while he was human, and his vision easily picked out the column marching up the valley, as well as his companions fleeing. They'd left not a moment too soon. He watched as the monsters at the head suddenly picked up speed, rushing forward to the shattered mirror. As he watched, the leaders of the group gathered around the fragmented portal, making him slow his glide. What were they talking about? What would they do with the mirror gone?

"Guide them," he called to Purple. "I'll catch up."

"Stay out of their sight," the owl reminded him, and beat his wings once as he soared a little lower to their earthbound fellows.

Green banked back to the dark mountainside. Several hundred feet above the broken mirror, he landed on a boulder, folded his wings, and turned himself to the valley below to watch.

Many monsters were searching the gray clearing for the culprit who broke it, while those gathered around the portal continued to talk. The falcon became concerned for Blue and Red as the lizalfos entered the gaunt trees, but before they could get too far, or pick up their trail, the leaders called all back. While Green watched, they reformed the column and turned back out of the valley. He threw himself forward off the rock and spread his wings, catching another current and soaring off high.

That, as it turned out, was a mistake. He left the vicinity of the mountain and was buffeted by violent and contrary gusts of wind this high up. Now he understood why the clouds boiled as they did. He fought the air for a time, refusing to fly lower and risk being spotted, but the constant wingbeats and unpredictable gusts sapped his energy, forcing him to descend. At the very least he banked over the ridge and the adjoining valley where, back in the Light World, the four of them had left their horses.

Spotting his companions, he folded his wings and went into a dive, relishing for just a moment the incredible speed and vertigo of the maneuver. He pulled up as he neared the ground, slowing and coming to perch in a tree.

"Hang back," he said. "They're leaving the way they came."

"Already?" asked Blue, grateful for the chance to stop. Knuckling along, trying to keep up with Red, wasn't agreeing with him.

"Yeah, they turned around and left."

The owl lit in a tree as well, tilting and turning his head this way and that as he listened. Red came striding back to them, sat down, and said evenly, "Maybe we should take this opportunity to decide what we're going to do."

"I'm all for getting back home," put in Green, head turned so he could watch the company of monsters through the treetops.

"Me, too," said Blue. "So where do we find a portal?"

"We start looking for one," the falcon stated. "Granted, that's easier said than done, but I sure don't want to stay here."

Purple said, "Ganon's not going to take this lying down. He'll try to get another portal so he can keep sending troops into Hyrule. That's to our advantage."

"We head for Hyrule, then. Well, what passes for Hyrule in this place, that is," said Green, and the others nodded.

When they left this gray valley after the monsters had put some distance between them, it was an ugly sight that greeted them. Here, instead of the yellow and red sands and scrublands of the Gerudo Desert, spread a fetid and nigh-endless marsh. Clinging black mud gave rise to twisted vegetation the color of lettuce gone bad—small islands of turf scattered here and there among unmoving pools of dark water, tangles of slimy vines and creepers, and gaunt bramble stands that rose from the water. It was likely that it covered just as much ground as the desert, but they couldn't tell with certainty, as the mire gave off a fog that obscured long-distance vision. The air smelled terrible and moved with large, buzzing insects.

"Yuck," declared Red flatly. "All right, let's get on with this…"

The gift of flight was a relief to Green and Purple, letting them avoid the mud. They could fly ahead somewhat and rest on the solid clumps of turf.

Blue and Red weren't so lucky. The bear jumped between the 'stepping stones' of sod where he could, and where he couldn't, he waded through the mud and water. He turned back after one to check on his companion, and found the ape up to his chest, making slow progress through the mire. His long arms were raised to keep them out of it, and his expression was one of acute discomfort and misery.

He hauled himself onto the island Red stood waiting for him on, digging his fingers into the sod and getting his lower body free with a sucking sound. "Climb onto my back," the bear said.

"No, no, don't worry about me."

"Blue, come on. Climb on."

"No. I don't need to be carried."

"Blue, please. You're not built for this. We'll move faster if you ride on my back."

The ape looked out over the swamp, crestfallen at the sight of how much ground they had to cover, then to his burly counterpart. "You're sure you don't mind?"

"I don't. Hop on," he said with a toss of his head towards his shoulder.

"Thank you…" The ape moved over and climbed up, sitting behind Red's hump and placing his hands on either shoulderblade. "Any time you want me to get down, just say so."

"Just hold on." The bear began to run, prompting Blue to grip his coat with the digits of his hands and feet. He leapt the gap between two clumps of turf, then slowed to wade through a wide span of water.

Soon the earthbound transformed heroes were covered in mud. It clung to their fur and splattered their faces. The birds were unable to stay clean, either, sinking with their claws into the sodden earth and getting mud on their breasts and bellies. They picked out routes of stepping stones for Red and Blue, making their path a zigzag across the swamp. A fairly-straight causeway was spotted north of them, but it was the path that Ganon's troops used, and despite the mud and bugs and stink, they had to stay away from the heavier-traveled area.

Despite caution, despite the filth covering them, they were still too bright for this place, their colors standing out in the green drab. It began to give them the feeling of being watched, and as they went deeper, the insects seemed to get hungrier for them. Blue slapped them away from himself and Red and the birds were soon constantly fluffing their feathers in irritation. Then a creature attacked them, rising out of the water with a gurgle. It was a dome-shaped lump of rubbery flesh, half-again the size of Red's human skull, sporting five tentacles on its top, which it flailed at them as it approached.

"Roper," said Blue. "Gross." He looked about for a rock, but the bear merely lifted a muddy paw and crushed it with a heavy blow. Its arms whipped about in its death-throes, slapping Red across the nose.

"Ouch!" he said, jumping back and rubbing his snout against his upper foreleg as it went to smoke. In time, the spot swelled and turned very tender, impeding his sense of smell and making his eyes shut slightly against his will.

Ahead of them, Green was almost surprised by an amphibious predator of some sort. Its cyclopean head emerged from the muck and launched a poisonous ball of spittle at him where he stood on a hillock. He jumped aside at the last moment, wings half-raised, and glared back at the thing. The thing opened its mouth to spit again, and he flew at it, sinking his beak into its eye and soaring on past it as it shrieked.

More such monsters attacked them through the long slog. The rest of the already-dark day was spent getting out of the swamp, moving from hillock-to-hillock, wading where necessary, fighting off ropers, amphibians, and serpents. The falcon finally spotted the marsh's edge through the mists, segueing into drier land.

Exhausted, stung, and covered head-to-tail in mud, they walked onto it gratefully. Water was found at the swamp's edge, tea-colored, but still a sight cleaner than what they'd been splashing through for the past several hours. It didn't look wholesome enough to drink, but it would do for a wash. Red sloshed right in a large pool and rolled over. The black mud bled off him, dirtying the water in seconds. Green and Purple chose their own smaller pool and waded in just to their bellies. They ducked their heads to splash the water onto their heads and backs, rubbing the mud off their wings by folding them forward and rubbing their heads and necks against them. Then they came back out and fluffed their feathers to dry them, and groomed and rearranged plumage with their bills. Blue dunked his head and scrubbed the mud out of his coat, then came back to the surface to drip dry.

When Red was done with his soak he shook himself mightily, spraying small droplets everywhere. He growled and rubbed his stung face against himself again. "I itch all over," he said.

The ape knuckled over to inspect his nose, which was running besides being inflamed. "It's still swollen… It may be like that for a day or so." Something black on his side drew his attention. Thinking it was a ball of mud too stubborn for the water, he tried to pick it out of his coat, but found it to be living and slimy. "Oh, man, that's why you itch… You've got leeches."

"I do?" He turned his head and squinted at the offending parasite. Red growled, then reached back and bit it with his front teeth. It burst, seeping its own innards and the bear's blood into his mouth. He sat down and began looking for more, finding them on his legs, paws, and belly, and systematically chewing them off, regularly pausing to scrape his long tongue against the roof of his mouth and shake his head to try and rid himself of the taste. Those he could not find or reach himself on his sides and shoulders, Blue worked on, pulling them off with his fingers where he could, and where they refused to let go without hurting Red, he bit them off and spat them out.

"You don't have to do that," the giant said as he worked.

"You got these carrying me through that," he replied. "If you hadn't, I'd probably be pulling them off myself right now, too. It's the least I can do."

"I appreciate it."

When the final leech was removed, Blue took a moment to pat out the last of the water and remove the twigs caught in his coat. The birds finished their grooming, all were tired, and night was coming on in the Dark World.

All wanted to put a little more distance between themselves and the swamp, and did so, walking on until its offensive smell was no longer detectable and the only clue of its existence was the fog on the horizon. Spread out before them was a brown prairie scattered with a new kind of twisted tree and bramble. Little could be made of it in the failing light, but it was something they'd pay attention to in the morning.

They sheltered that evening in a burrow found in a nearby hillside. Red expanded it considerably, digging with his strong claws, while Blue gathered fallen tree limbs and bushes. The bear enlarged the hole so all of them could fit inside. He went in first and lay down, chin on his paws, followed by the birds. Last came the ape, who pulled the brush into their burrow's mouth to hide and protect them somewhat. At the very least, its removal would warn them of a threat. Then he curled up on his side.

They could only fit snugly. It was warm in the hole while the wind whistled in the dark outside. The split hero was unexpectedly far, far from home, transformed unwillingly into animals. Each other, probably the only friendly beings to be found in the Dark World, were all the comfort they had.

"What are we going to do for food?" The bear asked. "It's hard to eat monsters if they disappear when they die, and I don't know if there are any proper animals."

"You would hunt and eat something?" Blue queried him.

"We've done it before. You know we've hunted deer."

"We had fire available to us back then, and we might not be able to find anything like a deer here… I don't know; we'll do what we have to, I suppose. What do the monsters eat, if they do eat?"

"Water is another concern," said Green. "I hope we'll find some good to drink out on the field, or thirst will get us before the starvation."

"Sleep," said Purple, his eyes already closed. "We'll get to it in the morning."

* * *

They overslept. The night was long, and the sun weak and veiled by the corrupted Golden Land's heavy cloud cover. Despite that, they'd had anxious dreams and felt no more rested from the extra sleep. This morning, they were also hungry.

Red's nose was considerably better, so that was something positive. They pushed out of their burrow, stretched and yawned, and looked around.

Morning didn't improve the dying field. It brought sharper relief to the warped trees, hedgerows, and slate-gray rock formations.

One thing shined in the distance, but it was no encouraging beacon when they recognized it for what it was: the Golden Pyramid, Ganon's stronghold. It was a distant, broad, tarnished edifice of stepped, dark-yellow stones that stood against the sky. The pyramid was grand, but the shadow it stood in (or cast out from itself?) marred it, changed its commanding stature to a brooding and menacing hunker. Its terraced sides seemed to shimmer at this distance as a mirage does. The Links resolved to stay away from it at this time.

They skirted it to the south, and saw that Lake Hylia was dominated by a vast, domed glacier here. The Links went to its edge, where there was melted ice. The water looked clearer than any they'd seen here, and smelled all right. Risking it, they found that it had an unpleasant metallic taste, but it slaked their thirst, and they drank as much as they could before continuing. It was brought home to them again how much they didn't belong when a pair of dark shapes were seen flying in the direction of the woods (what a nightmare place that must be here). The bright animals seemed to attract their attention, because they diverted for them. At the sight of them gliding closer, Green took to the wing as well, climbing high into the dark sky.

They were kargarocs, large airborne creatures something between huge birds and flighted reptiles, with their sharp beaks, crests, wattles, and claws, and bat-like wings of leathery skin. Blue stooped to pick up small rocks from the ground. He threw at the one in the lead as they got closer, hitting it in the chest. The two of them came to a hover out of the reach of the rearing bear and considered their prey.

It was then that the falcon dropped out of the sky like a green meteor and plowed into one kargaroc's wing, greatly disrupting its flight, possibly breaking its fingers, and making it stagger towards the ground.

The monster didn't touch the ground, but it came close enough for Red to wrap his paws around it, pull it down, and destroy it with a bite. The other found itself being pelted in the head and neck with rocks while Purple flew around it, tearing wing membrane with his sharp beak when it was distracted.

When it turned to snap at the offending owl, Blue nailed it squarely in the side of the face. Its flight suffered as a result, and he knuckled over, jumped up, grabbed it by the tail, and dragged it to the earth belly-up. He fought to keep its wings pinned to the ground and dodge its darting bill, and ended up taking a rake from its talons. The ape cried out, then jumped towards its head, holding one wing and its throat down with his gripping feet. Both his hands lifted a large rock from the ground, and with it he ended the monster bird's struggles.

"Let's get out of here," said the ape, dropping the stone as the kargaroc vanished and nursing the gashes on his side.

The rest of the day's journey was harrowing. Other minor monsters saw fit to attack them on sight and there was little cover to use. Then they came across a settlement: a bokoblin 'village' hidden in a copse of trees and underbrush that they'd been hoping to hide out in for a while. With no interest in fighting where it wasn't necessary, they watched the two-dozen monsters for a minute. They were making weapons, it seemed: knapping flint into spearheads and binding them to shafts, whittling tree branches into sword-like shapes, or fashioning thick hides into protective vests, sewn in with bones and sticks for decoration. The transformed heroes left the village behind without causing a stir.

Wandering on, hours away from the bokoblin village on the flatlands' eastern stretches, they spotted another settlement at a distance—no, more a camp, actually, for it was made up of tents. Its occupants were another troop of bulblins, their bulbos tethered to stakes driven into the dead ground.

This time some luck was with them, for there was a hedgerow for them to hide in a mile away from the camp. Their second day in the Dark World was coming to a close.

"They must be on their way somewhere," said Red.

"I see carts of some kind," Green told them. "The tents, they look like they're made out of some sort of hide. Pretty sturdy, but not permanent."

"Where are the uglies getting these skins?" wondered Blue. "Them and those bokoblins. There's something that doesn't vanish when it dies."

"From the way it looks, it could be the same kind of skin," said the peregrine. "And they kind of look like…" He trailed off.

"Like the bulbos," finished the bear. "Ah… Gentlemen, we may have found a solution to our food problem…"

* * *

It was a tremendously risky undertaking, and hardly the most savory, but the heroes were desperately hungry. They'd been traveling and fighting for two days with nothing to eat, and the birds especially used a lot of energy when they flew. Perhaps the other two could go on for a little longer, but Green and Purple _needed_ the sustenance, and they still had no guarantee of getting back to the Light World where food was more readily available.

So it was, that in the dead of night when the bulblins were asleep, Blue found himself sneaking up on the camp. The owl, on silent wings, scouted ahead for him, and brought him word when all was quiet and the watchmonster asleep. Slowly he moved with his hand held out in front of him in the dark, until he came into the faint underlight of the low-burning fire.

That was as deep as he dared go into the camp, and found himself the outermost bulbo he could. He stroked the creature's neck, declaring his presence and hoping he didn't scare it and wake anyone. He wrapped his large hands around the stake and worked it out of the ground, hoping to make it look like the boar pulled itself free.

Its bridle gave a faint jingle, making him bite his lip. A bulblin's snore caught in its throat nearby, making him freeze for a minute, ears trained for rustling and limbs tensing to carry him away to hide. When the gargling returned to normal, he let out the breath he'd been holding. He gave the reins a gentle pull, but the boar stood where it was. Blue tugged again, and it still did not move.

He softly patted its shoulder, but it continued to stand. "_Come on_," he breathed. Harder he pulled, and it actually pulled its head back this time, resisting him and giving a soft grunt. This made him grimace, and come back to its side to soothe it. He rubbed its neck, glancing this way and that. A monster shifted in its tent somewhere. Blue softly trilled close to its ear, imitating a bulblin as well and quietly as he could, and this time when he pulled on its reins, it did not resist. He made the soothing noise again, and it actually began to walk with him, cloven feet making faint sound on the ground and clacking once over a stone, almost making him jump out of his skin.

The ape led it on, trilling occasionally, now spitting distance outside the camp. There was the faintest sound of wind and feathers, and from the ground near him came Purple's low, urgent voice: "_Keep going_."

As fast as he dared. Finally, fifty yards away from the closest tent, he clambered up into its saddle and nudged it forward at a walk, torn between peering forward for obstacles in the dark and keeping one eye behind him. The owl glided past, whispering, "Go," and he encouraged a little more speed out of the boar.

He rode it to a dry riverbed a half-mile away, where Red was waiting. It clopped down the bank, and he dismounted. There he undid its cinches and pulled off its saddle, and held its reins while the bear lumbered over. Green was already perched on a boulder, and Purple touched down beside him.

"Sorry about this, buddy," Blue said to the bulbo.

* * *

Raw pork would not have been to their human taste. But as animals, and starving as they were, the split hero had to admit that it hit the spot, even the ape. They'd slept while waiting for the dark night to make the theft. The four ate as much as they could hold, then Red dug a hole and buried what remained—perhaps they'd have to come back.

The faint dawn was approaching when they left the riverbed. Purple and Green flew ahead to the briary thicket up a hill at the edge of the plain, and Blue rode on Red's back, employing his trick with a branch again to wipe out the bear's tracks behind them.

They hunkered down in their hiding spot to digest for a bit. Blue had kept the saddle, cinches, and other straps. Seemingly unable to let his hands be idle even as an ape, he was making something with them. He tied the saddle to his own back with the reins, so it formed something like an overlarge papoose basket. The edge stood even with his neck, and he lifted Purple up to it. He'd created a perch for the birds to ride on and save their wings. The ape bound a cinch around his forearm as well, simulating a falconer's gauntlet.

Green kept watch, perched in a nearby low tree. "They're stirred up," he reported, looking in the direction of the bulblin camp. Not only were they breaking camp, but a few were searching for the missing boar. They got so far as to mount up on another bulbo to follow the trail, making the heroes tense. But the camp leader called them back, and they reluctantly dismounted and got back to packing.

"I think we should follow them," said the peregrine. "It looks to me like they're going to battle."

"That's what I thought when I was down there," agreed Purple. "There were spears and hatchets."

"I'm also seeing bundles of arrows, and more than enough leather armor for them to wear."

"You think they could be carrying supplies for all his troops?" asked Red.

"You know, that would make sense…" The falcon trailed off, looking in the distance.

"Because if they are, it'd be better if we got to the portal ahead of them," said the bear.

Blue pointed out, "We don't know where it is, though."

"Yeah, that's true…" replied Red. "Well, do we know which direction they're headed in, at least?" The peregrine didn't answer, only continued to stare. "Green?"

Surprised, his head snapped over to the bear, then back again. "Sorry," he said. "I saw something funny."

"Funny-cheer-me-up, or funny-weird?" the giant in ursine skin asked.

"Funny-weird, I'm afraid. There it is again." His sharp green eyes narrowed some. "It's hard to pick out because it's dark, and thin, but it's long…"

"Like a snake?" prompted the primate.

"Exactly like a snake. A _really_ big black snake. I spotted it coming from that way out on the plain, then it went into those trees where the bokoblin village was… It's kinda coming in this direction—wait, there's more than one. I think that's the bushes we hid in when we saw the camp, that's where they're headed now."

"Are they using the same path we did?" asked Purple, exchanging a glance with the others.

"They could be, yeah… I think they are."

Blue pressed his palms together. "Guys, I hate to be the one to say it, but I think we're all thinking it… But it sounds like we're being tracked."

**

* * *

**

**AN:** I suppose it's been a while since I've done a good cliffhanger, so there ya go. These landscape chapters take me so long to write, even when it's something like the desert…

Oh, and how do you like their animal forms? It's one of the original ideas I had when hashing out this story: split them, and put them through the Dark World, but give each one their own animal form. Green is a peregrine falcon, Red is a brown bear, Blue is a fictional species of ape somewhere between a chimpanzee and an orangutan, and Purple is a fictional species of a small, horned owl—except they have their colors.

(For those who may have not played _ALttP_, when Link first enters the Dark World, he's stuck in the form of an anthropomorphic rabbit, unable to use his weapons or most of his items. The Dark World changes the forms of those who enter it to reflect what's in their hearts. The reason the hero was given such a 'weak and cowardly' form, and/or the reason the team is not anthro versions of their animals, you may ask? That will be addressed in a later chapter.)

Please review! I missed them last chapter, and I'm anxious to hear reactions to this one!


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